IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT EASTENDERS ON WLIW21 New York

EastEnders on WLIW Alert!: Some of you have asked how our recent WLIW Pledge breaks did, and I have the results: We did not yet hit our goal and again, as in recent years past, WLIW has asked us to partner with them to help raise the balance needed to pay for another year of the BBC licensing fee for EastEnders. The good news is we are more than half way there - and actually, it's also good news that WLIW comes to us every year and wants to partner with us!

 Below is more information as to how you can help us reach our goal, and there are 2 ways you can contribute.

First: WLIW has created a dedicated EastEnders Pledge Page, on their secure website, where you can go contribute ANY amount. And I do mean ANY amount! You can pledge for any of the fun EastEnders gifts there (like the tote bag pictured here) But we know that things may be tough for some and you may not be able to make a larger pledge (for a gift), so on this new dedicated EastEnders Pledge Page there is a "no gift" button (at the top left). When you click on that button you can pledge any amount and it gets credited to EastEnders. Even if it is smaller amounts like $10 or $25, it all adds up - like snowflakes!! We aren't snowed under by one big flake; it is a gazillion tiny flakes that have piled up (and up and up!) So here's a zen-like request: Be a snowflake and help our EastEnders pledges pile up!
Please go to WLIW's EastEnders pledge page here: wliw.org/EastEnders 

Second: If you prefer, you can do what we have done in the past and send in a check made out to "WLIW21", to my P.O. Box. If you include a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) I will return your check if we don't hit our goal - though we always do hit our goal (knock wood, kine hora, pooh pooh!) and so I always end up using those SASEs to mail you the results and a thank you letter. But if that is the way you feel most comfortable pledging, please do use that option. When the drive is over and we hit our goal, I will turn over the stack of checks to WLIW. The address is below in the EASTENDERS FOREVER section.

'It's like deja vu all over again.' ~Yogi Berra: Who doesn't love Yogi? And who (here, at least) doesn't love EastEnders? When I met with staffers at WLIW after last year's successful drive, they said they thought that this was the most effective way to fund EastEnders; to combine the regular pledge breaks with these drives we organize. It would be nice if we didn't have to do this; if everyone just called in to pledge during the pledge breaks, but we understand that some Easties simply feel more comfortable pledging this way, to one of these special drives. And so here we are again! Hopefully you'll all come through again this year! TA!

***Your pledge, no matter what way you send it, enters you in a drawing to win EastEnders memorabilia autographed by Shane Richie.

As always, if you have any questions about any of this, please just email me here at the Launderette: E20Launderette@gmail.com

EASTENDERS FOREVER ON WLIW

Some of you may have already received this postcard (below). If you haven't, here it is:

Dear EastEnders Fan,
 

As you may know, EastEnders is a series purchased from the BBC by WLIW for

our viewing pleasure.  We Easties are as appreciative of EastEnders as WLIW is of our devoted viewership.  Did you know that the majority of funding for WLIW to purchase programs like EastEnders comes from donor-member-viewers like us?

If you love EE enough to want it to continue, please mail your checks of $60 or $100 or whatever amount is right for you, made out to WLIW21 by April 1st  to:

EASTENDERS FOREVER
c/o  D. GILBERT
PO BOX 1106
OLD CHELSEA STATION
NY, NY  10113

If you prefer to donate online, go to www.wliw.org/EastEnders where you can select an EE thank you gift or pledge your entire contribution to support programming on WLIW.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me. 

Many thanks for your continued support of EastEnders on WLIW.

Sincerely,

Debbie Gilbert    

***If you got, or even if you didn't, we hope you will respond again, as so many of you have responded in the past, and pledge either by sending in your check made out to 'WLIW21', or by going to WLIW's secure, dedicated EastEnders Pledge Page: wliw.org/EastEnders.

 

EastEnders/WLIW Drive Update!

Good News Easties!: We are very close to meeting our goal for our special WLIW EastEnders drive. And, of course, because we have teamed up with WLIW to do this, they are doing their bit as well. Tonight, before each EastEnders episode, you saw a message from WLIW President John Servidio, making his appeal. 

If you haven't pledged yet, please do! All the pledge information is in the post below (in my last post). Thank you to all who have participated already & if you haven't it's not too late! Please check out all the info in the post directly below this one.
Cheers,
Debs

URGENT: Save EastEnders on WLIW21

 
Dear Easties,

WLIW has contacted me to let us know that the on-air fundraising for EastEnders this year did not raise enough money for WLIW21 to buy another year of the series. We are $15,000 short of what is needed and the new contract must be signed at the end of March. Given this shortfall coupled with already tight budgets, the program director cannot justify re-signing unless we help.

If we EastEnders fans cannot raise that money by March 15, EastEnders will no longer air on WLIW21. They have made it very clear that this is not any kind of a threat or bluff: It's just an economic reality for the station.

It is actually a testament to the relationship the EastEnders fan community has developed with WLIW21 over the last seven years that they did not just cancel the show. Instead, they contacted me to let us know that the show is in trouble and are giving us the opportunity to help them keep EastEnders on the air. Please know our loyal viewership and involvement with WLIW21 has been a continual source of pride for the station. They love it that they broadcast a show like EastEnders that viewers are so passionate about that we independently mobilize to partner with them, to fund it and keep it on the air. This is the very definition of Public Broadcasting!
But another reality is this: EastEnders is one of the most expensive shows that WLIW21 purchases, and the programming department simply does not have the funds for it… unless fans support it. And we have to support it every year.

So what can you give to secure another year of EastEnders? We are suggesting pledge levels of $60 and $100 because we need to raise the money quickly. Any pledge amount would help and be gratefully accepted!

We have done this before Easties, and we can do it again! We have partnered with WLIW to help them get the funds they need for EastEnders to continue: Now all we need is you to join us! Please respond to this call to action as soon as you can and to get updates, please check back here and/or sign up for the free EastEnders e-newsletter, The E20 Chronicles.

There are two ways to donate…

Option #1: You can pledge on WLIW's website via this link:
CLICK HERE FOR WLIW's EASTENDERS PLEDGE PAGE.
 
On WLIW's website link above there are 3 different pledge gift packages offered, PLEASE NOTE: If you pledge online you must get a pledge gift for your pledge to count for EastEnders. If you check the 'no gift' option, your pledge is not designated for EastEnders and doesn't count towards our $15K goal.

Option #2: OR- Send a check made out to 'WLIW/Channel 21', but mail it to me at:

Save EastEnders
c/o D. Gilbert
P.O. Box 1106
Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113

Just as with the drives I've organized in the past, we will collect the checks and if we do NOT hit the goal, your checks will be returned to you -- if you enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
*Please note that donations made on the website will be added to the general WLIW21 Programming Fund if we do not hit the goal.


If you want to another year of EastEnders on WLIW, the time for you to act is NOW! If you have any questions, please email me any time: E20Launderette at gmail . com

Cheers,

Debbie Gilbert

***BTW, raising $15,000 should be totally doable for EastEnders: that’s just 250 people pledging $60, or 150 people pledging $100. Together, we can do this!!

AND THERE'S MORE:

Anyone who sends in a check for this drive will be entered to winsome great EastEnders memorabilia!

Second Issue of the E20 Chronicles Now Available

Hey Easties,

We have been busy little bees getting the second Issue of the E20 Chronicles together for WLIW/Channel 21, New York, and other PBS stations, and now it's here!

The first issue was used by 6 different PBS stations to raise a lot of dosh to help keep EastEnders on the air in the US. And since the response was so great, we have created a second issue, whose sole purpose (beyond entertaining all you rabid Easties) is to be used as a pledge gift for PBS.

This issue features all brand new, exclusive interviews, not available anywhere else; interviews with Barbara Windsor, Pam St. Clement, Gary Beadle, Lucy Speed, Leslie Grantham, Derek Martin, Jane Slaughter, and Tony Jordan.

You'll learn all kinds of new things about EastEnders and the creative people who bring it to you.

The E20 Chronicles is a full size, full color magazine, and a solid read; 44 pages of articles and pictures with no advertisements. And it is available only by pledging to support EastEnders on PBS.

To make your pledge to support EastEnders on WLIW, and get your E20 Chronicles, go to their website by clicking here: WLIW Pledge Gift Page

*Once you get there, click on the 'Search the Full Catalogue' button, then type EastEnders into the search bar, and viola, you're on the EastEnders Pledge Gift page. And when there, you'll see that you can also pledge for the first issue of the E20 Chronicles, as well as that fabulous 25th Anniversary/Sgt Pepper parody print.

**If you are an EastEnders fan from Minnesota, you can get your E20 Chronicles by pledging to PBS Station TPT: www.tpt.org

**And please note: If you are watching EastEnders on a different PBS station, where you got your E20 Chronicles last time, don't fret, you'll be able to get the new one from your station as soon as your EastEnders pledge drive rolls around. But if you don't want to wait til then, you can always pledge to WLIW now!

Keep supporting EastEnders on WLIW (and every other PBS station that broadcasts it), and enjoy the latest E20 Chronicles!

**You can watch EastEnders in the New York area on WLIW/Channel 21, Wednesday nights at 10PM.