Bernard, the $525 Bondage Bear

Bondage Bears are strangely popular in the Leather comminuty, and so a few months ago i decided that *I* would dress a teddy bear in bondage gear that *I* made. my hope was that he would be well received because his gear was hand made by me. i was expecting him to raise $40-50. But Pat Bailie runs what she calls a "Chinese Auction" for one or two items per event... i probably can't explain this well enough for you to understand... someone opens with a bid, say $5, and that person has to pay in that $5 bid on the spot. Now, for the bidding to stay going, that $5 has to be matched by $5 from another bidder (also cash on the spot). if the bid is matched, bidding starts over at any amount. it becomes an interesting way to raise a lot of cash. let's back up a bit. Bondage Bear is cute. damned cute. and soft and cuddly and squishy. Suka slept with him Wednesday night. i slept with him Friday night. he's a good cuddling/napping bear. i carried him around with me all weekend letting people hug him and i was also promoting the auction. i was becoming quite attached to Bondage Bear *BUT* i promised that he would be donated. that's what her was created for and that's what i was going to do.

when Pat called me up on the balcony of the hotel bar to start the auction, i raised Bondage Bear above my head and the crowd broke out with a deep-from-the-heart "AWWWWWWWWWWW!" i told everyone that the bear was a TY brand bear (they make Beanie Babies) and that his gear was made by me.

and the bidding started.

the room went crazy. five dollars here, twenty dollars there, back to a dollar... around in circles it went until one woman asked "Will you take a check?" "Yes, we'll take a check" Pat answered.

This woman had been standing almost directly below where i stood on the balcony. she had winked at me a couple times when she had made twenty dollar bids douring the round of bidding. but this time the woman holds up her checkbook and says "I bid one hundred dollars". DAMN she wants this bear! Her $100 isn't matched, so she wins the bear. i run down the stairs to present the winner with the Bear and to thank her for her generosity. i hand her the bear. She looks at me kinda confused (because at that point i didn't know how else to describe the look on her face) and she says "He's YOUR bear." and i answer "Yeah, and you were the high bidder. He's yours now!"

i NOW know that the look on her face was "You silly girl" because she hands the bear back to me and says "I won him for YOU. He's YOUR bear. I've watched you carry him around all weekend and i know how much you would miss him. I won him for YOU." HOLY FUCKING SHIT. it turns out that there were at least three OTHER people in the audience that were bidding on him to give him back to me as well! Sometimes the Human Race can really surprise you.

So, the least that i could do was have the winner name the Bear. She picked "Bernard". So, when i got back to Milwaukee, i had a name tag made for him in one of those vending machine-type tag engraver machines:

BERNARD
THE 525 DOLLAR
BONDAGE BEAR
I BELONG TO IZZY

he will come with me to all the rest of my events.

he was such a HUGE success (SURPASSING my expectations) that i'm going to make more bears for more fundraisers. i don't expect all of them to be as successful as Bernard (and i don't expect any more of them to be bought for ME) but i have more time than money. if i can help people raise MONEY with the donation of my TIME it's a win/win situation