Help out a friend of 7500 to Holte

I just wanted to let you know that the good folks at The Short Fuse (SB Nation's Arsenal blog) are doing a fundraiser to help their site manager cover medical expenses after a freak injury suffered while rock climbing. Thomas Wachtel is a fantastic writer, and one of the best people around on the internet. If you don't recall the name, you may remember the excellent article he penned for us in the week before the FA Cup final in which he explained why Villa fans should hate Arsenal.

His medical expenses have piled up, and rather than see him dip into his retirement savings, his colleagues at The Short Fuse decided to try and raise $5,000 to help him out from a pretty terrible situation (long story short: while rock climbing, he heard something snap, assumed it was his foothold, and discovered instead that it was his humerus snapping in two.).

I know that, as Villa fans, you probably have little connection to Thomas, but I can vouch that he's a fantastic guy, and also that there are few people who support 7500 as much as he does. If you have a few bucks to spare and can send them Thomas' way, I know it would be greatly appreciated.

And to sweeten the pot, The Short Fuse are giving away incentives! From them:

- If you give $20, you'll get a personal shoutout/thankyou on TSF social media, including the official site Twitter and FB, and the twitters of at least a couple of the individual writers
- If you give $100, you'll get to be a TSF author*! Choose from the following topics:
- Arsenal's biggest current playing need and who can fill it
- Who should be Arsenal's next coach and why
- Should Arsenal join the Real Madrid/Barcelona/City/Chelsea arms race?
- Mesut Ozil: An Appreciation
- My all-time favorite Arsenal player/game/goal/season (pick any one)
- If you give $500, you can write 1000 words on whatever Arsenal-related topic you want!**

If more than five people donate at the $100 level, we'll come up with more topics!

*Subject to very light editorial control - we won't change content, but reserve the right to fix spelling/punctuation/grammar as needed. While we don't plan on using it, we also reserve the right to tell you to start over if the piece you submit falls afoul of our usual posting guidelines (which will be made available to you).

**following TSF's site rules and the above-referenced editorial controls

I have confirmed that, if by some marvelous act of grace, someone from here hits the $100 mark, TSF will let you write a tongue-in-cheek post poking fun of the Gunners. (With emphasis on tongue-in-cheek. They're a Gunners blog, after all, you can't get too nasty. They reserve the right to say no.) Might I suggest the 1-3 match to open the 2013-14 season?

If you want to donate, go here. And thanks for taking the time to read this.