Please, won't you take Gully to dinner?

[Fat Guy]

Dear Friends of Gully,<br><br>

Gully is hungry. Please,

won't you take Gully to dinner? <br><br>

<img

src="http://www.egullet.com/imgs/feed_gully_bg.gif"

align="right">

Gully -- the little man in the eGullet Society logo --

has been with us since the beginning, and has never

asked for so much as a crust of bread. But now,

after five years, Gully can no longer sit (well, stand)

in silence. He wants you to take him to dinner.

<br><br>

Not really, of course. Gully is pretend, and he has a

computer mouse in place of a stomach anyway.

Rather, what we're asking is that you donate the

cost of dinner to the eGullet Society's "Take Gully to

dinner" fund. <br><br>

Were you planning to head out to dinner tonight?

Stop! The eGullet Society is beginning its winter

fundraising drive to finance its growing eG

Scholarships program and other services. This year,

we're offering five $5,000 culinary arts scholarships.

We're also planning to upgrade our hardware and

software capabilities and expand our online offerings.

And we want to keep basic membership in the eGullet

Society free. All this requires money, yet Gully has

no marketable skills -- he depends entirely on the

generosity of donors like you. <br><br>

Most of our members and readers owe many

wonderful meals -- in restaurants and at home -- to

information gathered from eG Forums. Likewise,

they've avoided many bad meals. Now we're asking

you to give one meal back. <br><br>

According to a study by the International Restaurant

Association, the average eGullet Society member

dines out 35 times a week. Well, not really, but you

may be a person who frequently drops several

hundred dollars (or the equivalent) on fine-dining

meals. So tonight, or one night soon, won't you order

pizza instead and take Gully to dinner with the price

of one of those fine meals? <br><br>

Or perhaps you don't dine out much, but focus your

efforts on home cooking. If so, won't you have a

peanut butter sandwich one night and take Gully to

dinner with the price of one of your finest home-

cooked meals? <br><br>

And what a great dinner date Gully is! He listens

attentively, he never complains or argues, he always

shares his food and he loves you unconditionally.

Better still, every penny you spend taking him to

dinner is tax deductible to the full extent of United

States law (which means under some circumstances

it may also be deductible in countries like Canada,

which have reciprocity arrangements with the United

States). We'll issue you a 501©(3) tax

receipt.<br><br>

And that's not all. If you spend $100 or more taking

Gully to dinner before the end of the year, Gully will

reward you with a limited edition eGullet Society

2006 coffee mug. These mugs are not available in

any stores, and they're really nice -- and big, of

course. (If you don't wish to receive a mug and

would instead prefer that 100% of your donation go

to support the eGullet Society, please note this with

your payment.) <br><br>

Just click one of the options below to make an online

payment and take Gully to dinner. We accept all

major credit cards and PayPal. <br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=%245%2c350%20Take%20Gully%

20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd5350&amount=5350%

2e00&no_shipping=0&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=

US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%

2d8">$5,350 - Fly Gully and his only amigo, the

mouse, to elBulli for a tasting menu ($5,350 is the

cost of a $5,000 eG Scholarship plus the $350 fee we

pay to the independent administrators)</a> <br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=%241%2c000%20Take%20Gully%

20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd1000&amount=1000%

2e00&no_shipping=0&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=

US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%

2d8">$1,000 - Take Gully to Alain Ducasse at the

Plaza Athenee in Paris for the white truffle tasting

menu with wine pairings</a> <br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=%24500%20Take%20Gully%20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd500&amount=500%

2e00&no_shipping=0&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=

US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%

2d8">$500 - Take Gully to an overpriced tourist trap

restaurant and let the sommelier upsell like crazy</a>

<br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=%24250%20Take%20Gully%20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd250&amount=250%

2e00&no_shipping=0&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=

US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%

2d8">$250 - Take Gully to a New York Times four-

star restaurant and only drink tap water</a>

<br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=%24100%20Take%20Gully%20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd100&amount=100%

2e00&no_shipping=0&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=

US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%

2d8">$100 - Cook Gully a really nice dinner featuring

FedExed lobsters</a> <br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=%2450%20Take%20Gully%20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd50&amount=50%

2e00&no_shipping=0&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=

US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8">$50 -

Sorry Gully, if I have to order pizza then you have to

settle for pizza too!</a> <br><br>

<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_xclick&business=giving%40egullet%

2eorg&item_name=Take%20Gully%20to%

20Dinner&item_number=tgtd0000&no_shipping=0&tax=

0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%

2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8">Give Gully any

other amount of money to fend for himself</a>

<br><br>

All amounts United States Dollars (USD).<br><br>

Or, if you'd prefer to send a check, our mailing

address is below (checks are preferred for donations

over $500, so as to save on credit card processing

fees). We can also customize a wide variety of

automatic payment plans for you ($50 a month, $10

a week, etc.). You can just reply to this email or

contact us at <a

href="mailto:giving@eGullet.org">giving@eGullet.org</a>.<br><br>

<b>And once you've taken Gully to dinner, be sure to post an account of your evening on the <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=95685">How did your dinner with Gully go?</a> topic.</b><br><br>

Thanks so much. Gully really appreciates it. <br><br>

<i>Mailing address (please be sure to include the

suite

number):</i> <br>

"Take Gully to Dinner"<br>

eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters<br>

20 East 93rd Street, Suite #1A<br>

New York, NY 10128

<br><br>

<i>(Gully would like to acknowledge the inspiration of

Bernard Lechowick of Bard College, the originator of

the "Take Bard to dinner" program)</i><br><br>

With relish on behalf of Gully,