Child’s Play
Dec 1st, 2006 by jeremy
Child’s Play is a charity started by the webcomic Penny Arcade. They raise money to purchase books, toys and video games to be donated to children’s hospitals around the world. They let you choose which hospital you would like to donate to, then let you pick items from that hospital’s wish list. In three years they have donated almost $1 million of toys and books to hospitals, and this year they raised lmost $300,000 before the holidays began. This is a great cause, and you know exactly what your money is going too, no middleman to take some of your contribution. You buy it straight from Amazon, and they deliver it to the hospital.
I’ve been lucky, other than a few days, my children haven’t had to stay in a hospital. I know those few days were horrible though, and I would have done anything to make their stay less stressful. Child’s Play is an opportunity to help a child hate their time in a hospital a little less by having Gameboy’s, books, movies and Xboxes available for them to play with while they’re sick.
Britnie, Sid, Wy and I are donating the Spanish version of some of our favorite books to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
From the Child’s Play site.
Here’s the deal.
For three years now, we’ve set up and organized a charity called Child’s Play. We set it up because we were angry the media decided to blame all the world’s problems on games and gamers. Basically they said that gamers were bad people, and we thought that wasn’t right. Apparently, you guys agreed: through Child’s Play you sent over a million dollars in toys, games, and cash to the sick kids in children’s hospitals around the world.
That was awesome. You guys have proven over and over again that you are an overwhelming force, and you really came through and made a real difference to the millions of kids that children’s hospitals care for each year. So we’re doing it again this year, only this time we’ve expanded Child’s Play to more hospitals around US and the globe so you can send toys to a hospital a little closer to home.
Child’s Play works the same as last year. With the help of hospital staff, we’ve set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital’s list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape. Imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays, getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year.
We are arguably the largest community of gamers on the internet. The important word there being community. We are not a faceless corporation and you are not just a number tracked by a database and then relayed to hungry advertisers. You guys have proven yourselves to be a powerful force when stirred into action. Here is your opportunity to use that power to do some real good.