The Charity of Gamers

Carpe diem Baby!

No matter what sort of gamer you are, there is a charity out there that can use your help, that wants your help, and that numbers gamers among its members or the segment of society that it serves. While we cannot cover them all here -- this is already a lot longer an article than was originally planned -- we can highlight the ones that really make a major difference in the world. Our world. The gaming world.

Child's Play

Founded by the authors of the popular computer and video games-based webcomic Penny Arcade, Child's Play is an organization whose strength is firmly vested in a worldwide network of gamers who hold toy drives for children's hospitals donating almost nine million dollars in toys, games and books to children's hospitals all over the world

Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (Gabe and Tycho to you) founded Child's Play in 2003 to improve the lives of sick children while at the same time educating mainstream media's perception of gamers as violent and antisocial -- which we are not.

Thanks to the efficiency and the technical brilliance of the Internet the bulk of the details behind this charity are fully automated, making the act of caring -- and giving -- about as painless as you could wish! How it works is simple enough: with the help of hospital staff, Child's Play volunteers set up gift wishlists on Amazon.com full of video games, books, toys, and movies. When the hospital's wishlist is completed, they are then added to the map on the Child's Play website, where gamers and others online click through to the lists and buy items for patients. Everything ships directly from Amazon to the hospital, easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!

In addition to providing sick kids with toys and a reason to smile, the Amazon-based program pays Child's Play a small commission on each purchase, and through the Child's Play website the charity allows donors to contribute cash as well via PayPal or more traditional methods, with 100% of that money going to the hospitals, paying for pediatric research, facility improvements, and other important things. In 2011 Mike Krahulik announced the first annual Child's Play Invitational Golf Tournament to be held at the Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena, California on June 5th, 2011 -- a good reason to show up for E3 early, right? And of course all of the proceeds from the event went to the partner hospitals & facilities in the Child's Play network, and all donations made to the charity are tax-deductible!

Child's Play presently supports hospitals in the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Egypt.

Want to help a sick child get some happy in their life? Head on over to the Child's Play website today! You can hit it at http://www.childsplaycharity.org/.

Gamers United

Originally conceptualized in 2008, Gamers United is an organization bringing the video gaming community and industry together, showcasing the positive aspects of video gaming to the world. Each year with your help they help children's hospitals in need of support. Many hospitals now use video gaming as a rehabilitative tool, while other organizations use it as a method of entertainment for those who are unable to leave the confines of their home or hospital bed.

Gamers United is dedicated to giving back and highlighting the video gamer's youthful and giving spirit, and they accomplish this through their annual holiday fundraiser party (this year the date is December 7th), through a fundraiser on the IndieGoGo website, and through direct donations.

The IndieGoGo fundraiser is a unique campaign because of the varied number of perks available to donors, which include artwork from Andie Tong and Kevin Mellon, in-game art from Game Mechanics, a personalized voicemail recording from True Blood star Janina Gavankar, and prize packs from Nyko, Konami, Disney, Sony Online Entertainment and more! If you are interested in donating for a chance to win some of that loot hit this weblink for The Gamers United IndieGoGo Fundraiser today!

Gamers United supports hospitals and patent care organizations in Southern California.

Want more information about Gamers United? Head over to their home page at http://www.thegamersunited.org/.

Blizzard's World of Warcraft Special Auction

Supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases, gaming icon Blizzard -- with the help of Ebay -- is auctioning off the original HP Blade System servers that once housed hundreds of different realms across North America and Europe!

Approximately 2,000 of the original server blades from about 500 different World of Warcraft realms are being auctioned via Ebay -- the link is http://www.ebay.com/blizzard -- and lest you think that you would just be receiving a dusty old piece of WoW hardware history, consider this: each server blade auctioned will be contained in a custom windowed case featuring the World of Warcraft logo, and includes a commemorative plaque signed by the World of Warcraft team, making it the most mondo cool display item you can have for your Man Cave or Gaming Den. Woot!

Operation Supply Drop

Whether or not you support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan or even remember why we are over there, you should always remember that supporting the troops is not the same thing as supporting the war, and we are pretty sure that on the whole, they would rather be home with their family than serving in a war zone. The recent announcement by President Obama that he is ordering the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq by Christmas is great news, but nothing has changed in Afghanistan, and speaking from experience the burden of service is often a boring one.

And that is why gamers in the land of the Big PX can feel good about supporting gamers over there!

Operation Supply Drop dispatched their most recent package to the troops -- codenamed DRAGON PUNCH -- weighing in at a staggering 93 pounds and costing a combined $187 of shipping, which contained two consoles, two Guitar Hero controllers, eight standard controllers, and seventy games! Check out the coverage over at Front Towards Gamer including the photos!

The contents of the packages were donated by gamers as well as game companies like EA Games, Activision, Reverb Communications, Bethesda, Robot Entertainment, Popcap, and others, and included a variety of items sent in by gamers, and items purchased with the money donated by gamers. Boredom is the leading cause of depression in gamers trapped in a war zone, so anything that we can do to help them is a good thing!

Do you have some gaming-related stuff you think would help a soldier in Afghanistan? Operation Supply Drop is already building its next care package, code named SCORPION TAIL, and they could use your help!

Send your donations to:

Operation Supply Drop

9301 Alvyn Lake Circle

Bristow VA, 20136

The link to their page on Front Towards Gamer also includes a link to donate money via PayPal if that is easier for you!