Of course, the top notch membership of this group and its willingness to go (way) above and beyond the call of duty for its members and so many others is well established already.
I could go on and on about how amazing this site and (especially) its membership is. Everything from the day to day bombs and transaction hitchhikers, to the yearly spirited and honorable donations to the troops.
I really wanted to start my own pass. What a great way, I thought, to start giving a little back to this incredible community. So I came up with something a little different and luckily it seemed to be pretty well received. Sadly, as many of you already know, that pass was only one step away from completing its journey when all activity ceased in mid-November.
My thoughts on the matter were basically, "Well, that sucks. Hopefully it will show up eventually, but at least everyone got their chance to play the game, take part in the contest, and the First King of the Mystery Item Contest Pass was crowned in all of his Equine Glory."
But that wasn't where the rest of the geeks were willing to leave it, and that's going to be the point (finally!) of this thread. Geeks have been sending me, out of their own personal stash and for no other reason than they just felt like helping me out, replacement sticks to match those that would have come back to me had the pass been returned. So that's why I'm posting this, as a public thank you for everyone's generosity and general awesomeness. As these packages arrive I'll be posting them in this thread, and I humbly beg everyone that reads it to help me thank them.
The first arrival, by cavenbk, which is almost certainly completely unretouched and not photoshopped in any way:
Thanks again, brother. I'm actually now a little embarrassed about the prize sticks you're getting, after seeing this!
Today I received the following from StogieDad. Thanks so much!
Just got packages from Longhorn and mike.casey. Thanks guys, this means so much to me!
mike.casey
Longhorn:
Two more packages showed up today. 
Cfickter and jumberlack1 : You guys rock! Thanks so much! (also, it should be noted that CFickter's photo is exactly as almost certainly unaltered as cavenbk's)
