Child's Play Collect Almost Half a Million Dollars 32
Gamasutra reports on good news from the annual Penny Arcade-sponsored Child's Play charity drive. The organization has announced they've already reached $495,000 in donations this year, with several days left to go in the drive. Almost $230,000 came in last week alone. Next Wednesday, they'll be hosting the annual Charity Dinner, which last year netted the organization $82,000 and (this year) is certain to put them over their goal of $500,000. From the article: "Among those items up for bid at the event will be a new Wii console autographed by the Nintendo of America's president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime, a speaking line in the upcoming hotly anticipated Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, a PlayStation 3 console, and an appearance in a Penny Arcade comic strip. Additional items expected to be part of the sold out auction include original Penny Arcade artwork, tickets to the Halo 3 launch party, an Xbox 360, a Microsoft Zune ultra pack, Alien Hominid skateboards, ATI Radeon X1900XTX video cards, and Pirates of the Burning Sea treasure packs."
I'm doing this for Christmas this year (Score:5, Interesting)
One Christmas I hit upon an interesting idea. I took my entire Christmas budget for them and focused it in a different direction. The company I was working at had a Christmas tree with cards from needy children describing what they wanted most for Christmas. I plucked a number of the cards off the tree, went down to Toys R Us, and bought up a bunch of stuff. I then wrote a letter to each member of my family, described the charity to them, and told them why I thought of them when I got that gift. Each 'gift' was chosen in the context of a particular family member attached to a good memory from the past. For example, I found a 'wish' for a bicycle. I told my dad that I remembered when he bought a bike for me as a child and that I wanted to pass that happiness on to somebody else.
I recieved the most heartfelt phone call from my uncle that year. The entire family was really touched by the gesture and the phone was passed around so everybody could let me know. That was the most successful Christmas shopping I had ever had. Surprisingly, it was also the most stress free. I put more time into writing the cards than I did searching for and purchasing the gifts. Plus... well darnit, it just felt good.
This year, I'm more or less following the same theme, only I'm using Child's Play this time. What makes this a little different from what I did the last time is that the games you purchase for this site go into a hospital library. All year round those games will get a lot of use from a lot of kids. In other words, a gift from here will likely benefit a child recovering from a broken leg or something 6 months from now. I think my family will appreciate that. I think they'll also appreciate the letters that'll come along with this round. I couldn't really find a suitable game-related gift for my aunt and uncle. So I'm doing something different for them. I think they'll appreciate the extra consideration.
I can imagine there's lots of people here on Slashdot that have the same Christmas trouble I do and I wanted to suggest this as an alternative gift. It's far easier, far more meaningful, and goes a longer way.
Kudos to Child's Play.
Re:I'm doing this for Christmas this year (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not sure why she chose batteries, but she has recently learned that some of her toys don't work when they run out, and she's very concerned about having enough to go around...