Thanks in no small part to the influx of letters, emails and calls from the denizens of Deadspin Nation, we received word this afternoon that Paypal has relented on its decision to hold onto the Adam Knox Fund donations. Obviously the calls worked, because they were awfully resolute about it before we posted our rant yesterday. They claim it to have been a misunderstanding, though we definitely got the right guy on the phone today, post-post. (In retrospect, such initial anger — we tried not to write angry, but we obviously failed, with good reason — might not have been the most productive way to handle the situation; we were righteously indignant, but it still probably doesn't help one's cause to refer to people as "dicknobs." Though it really is a wonderful word, isn't it?)

We'd seriously like to thank all the Deadspin readers — particularly the lawyers; hey, America, all your billable hours are going toward reading Deadspin! — who offered their help in this situation, and especially to those who donated in the first place. There's good karma for everyone out there tonight, and, more important, there's some, minor relief coming to the Knox family and his platoon. So thank you.

Paypal Doesn't Want Slain Soldiers' Families To Receive Aid [Deadspin]

So here's what happened: When we set up the fund, we attached it to a Paypal account, because we thought that would make it easier to contribute. Turns out, though — as we learned through two more hours on the phone with these jerks yesterday — that they set up the initial Paypal account as a "charitable organization" account. (We do not know why they did this. We did not ask them to.) Because of this, they require "documentation of non-profit tax-exempt status." Because Deadspin is not, in fact, a non-profit organization (though we wouldn't exactly call us a "profit" organization either) , the compliance department has decided that the funds are to be frozen for "180 days," after which time they will be deposited in the "bank account on file." (Which is our personal bank account.) The douche on the phone — whom we hope goes home tonight and is fucking beaten by Jason Kidd's wife — said that he understood the situation and that it was "unfortunate" but that "we have our policies. If you contact us on April 13 [the 180 days date] we will be reminded to deposit the funds, because the suspension would be over." That's the word that dicknob used: "Suspension."

(Whew: We wrote a little angry there.)

Anyway, so, unless Paypal can see reason, we won't be able to send the legitimately raised money for a legitimate cause to Adam's family and the goods to Adam's platoon until April 13. We find this unacceptable.

So: We call on you. If you're even close to as fired up about this as we are, we encourage you to contact them and let them know what you think or, in a pinch, just call 402-935-2050 and really let them know. If you have a Paypal account yourself, as unfortunate as that might be, you'll need to give them your account info to get somebody on the line; if you don't, we suggest you just keep punching "0" or whatever until you get somebody on the phone.

Paypal is wrong — disgustingly wrong — in this, and if our screaming yesterday didn't make a difference, perhaps your numbers can.

And we apologize again to the Knox family and the Columbus, Ohio platoon for all this. If we would have known Paypal was so awful, we wouldn't have used them. We won't make the mistake again.

Introducing The Adam Knox Fund [Deadspin]

In the span of four days, we have raised $2,361.00 for the members of Adam's unit — and other soldiers — and we plan on sending them all kinds of goodies in the next couple of weeks. If you want to donate, the button is below, but the real reason for this post is to do one last call to the Deadspin family for suggestions of what to send. This is going to have all your names on it, so don't be afraid to get creative. We want to be helpful, and we also to make everything unique to what we do around here.

So, put your suggestions in the comments, and feel free to email them to us as well. We'll continue to keep you updated.

The Adam Knox Fund [Deadspin]

(By the way, big thanks to Big Daddy Drew from KSK for spearheading the effort on this.)

This is something we can get behind. We thought about just giving the address of the platoon, but we thought the cumbersome process of sending something out there — we tried to send a book to a cousin last year, and it was oppressively hard — might discourage people, so we, along with some concerned readers, came up with a plan.

We've set up a PayPal account under the address "adamknoxfund@aol.com" and are currently accepting any donations to the (admittedly slapdash) Adam Knox Fund. Essentially, we're going to solicit ideas on what we should buy with any donations we receive from you, and then we'll send a big package over there. We've talked to Tom, and the unit commanders were excited by the idea. He suggested "Magazines and other reading materials, snacks (combos, cookies, crackers, etc), DVD's, games, so on." We'll put it all together and send it over in one big package, from all of you.

So, if you want to contribute, the PayPal button is below. And please let us know if you think there might be anything specific they might like. But there are certain things they probably can't expect; we're looking at you, Mr. Smoot.