CIVICMINDED

Once again, I just wanted to extend a sincere thanks to all of you who have participated in the CIVICMINDED Donation Drive Contest! This has provided a HUGE boost in helping me recover the freight shipping costs of my donation from a few months ago. It's been a real pleasure helping the RetroMags community and I'm already working on a second round of donations as we speak. Thank you all!

THANK YOU!!! My name is Brian Lesyk (a.k.a. CIVICMINDED) and I wanted to sincerely thank each and every one of you who contributed to reimbursing me for the shipping costs incurred when I recently donated my video game collection to Retromags. It was a much-appreciated and heartwarming surprise to see so many of you pitch in to help support this initiative. Quick story... My wife and I bought our first home together three and a half years ago. During that time, I've been steadily converting my basement into a gaming room. My nearly four-decade collection of video game paraphernalia has been stored there since. About two years ago, the home's original hot water heater sprang a small leak and damaged a relatively small portion of my video game magazine collection. Nonetheless, I was heartbroken. That's when I stumbled across Retromags online video game magazine repository. I was delighted to see how comprehensive their library was and how well the site was run. I was able to recuperate some of my collection in digital form and have been a fervent supporter of theirs ever since. In the time since I discovered Retromags, I began to wonder about the status of my remaining physical collection. Despite being in practically mint condition, I was finally faced with some realities. My collection took up far too much space and I wasn't really reading through them much anymore. Basically, the collection became so big that I couldn't find anything I wanted despite being well organized. I was essentially hording. So, three things crept into my head: 1) Getting rid of all of these boxes could free-up some necessary space in my gaming room, 2) digitizing this massive collection would be a benefit to the gaming community (and myself), and 3) I felt that Retromags is THE trusted source and curator for this sort of thing. Though it was bittersweet watching the freight company haul away my life's collection on a pallet jack down my driveway and into a truck, it gave me great solace in knowing that the gaming community would maybe benefit from it just as I did. As I mentioned, my collection began decades ago. It started when I was about eight years old and followed me through college...through multiple cities and apartments...it eventually followed me home...and soon, it will be in your hands. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. Personally, I very much look forward to re-discovering much it in its digital format. It's exciting to know that my collection will join the many collections that all of you have contributed over the years, too. If you receive a fraction of the enjoyment in my collection as I have received from yours, I know my decision was the right one to make. Again, thank you all for your tremendous support! I am genuinely humbled and your generosity will not be forgotten. Sincerely, Brian