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Child's Play Hits $200,000
Gamasutra reports that the Child's Play charity drive has already hit $200,000 this year, with the big-ticket auction still to come on the 13th. Donations will be accepted through December 20th. From the article: "The donation so far includes 90 GameCubes, 95 PlayStation 2s, 79 Nintendo DSes, 153 Game Boy Advances of various types, 30 Xboxes, 26 LeapPads, 30 MP3 players, and 49 DVDs, on top of countless software, videos, and other toys. 'Thank you for all the toys!' said Meghan D. Kelly, Director of the Child Life Program at The Children's Hospital in New York. 'Child's Play Charity is like a dream come true!'"
No mention of Penny Arcade... ? Props where props are due... yay Gabe and Tycho!
In case any Brits didn't know, Child's Play is now involving Alder Hey's Childrens Hospital in Liverpool (yeah that one that was featured in the long-running docu-soap-thing "Children's Hospital"). I'd have loved one up here in Scotland but we're working on that for next year. Nice to have one on this continent to donate to though!
When you're going through chemo, holding a pencil (or crayon) up to a piece of paper can take too much energy. Holding a book up, or even holding your hands up to a keyboard can be too much to do for very long.
When I was going through chemo, I found that the one thing that could keep my mind active while not taxing my body at all was sitting there in a comfy chair with a video game controller in my lap - you can keep your hands down and just move your fingers a little, which is much less tiring than any activity that requires holding your hands up. And if I was too tired even for that, my husband could play and I could watch and help him figure out the puzzles.
I think video games are an excellent idea for these sick kids.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
One of the things that made the first Child's Play so great was watching the amazement as the stuff rolled in. Everyone thought it'd be just a little bit of something, then it just started getting ridiculous. I was checking the site every single day for new photos, just to see how much stuff people were sending. And to be honest, I sent more that first year than I have ever since, simply because I wanted, no, I needed, to see my stuff in that stack.
Since then, it's just been a number. Sure, $250,000 is a lot of money, but I can imagine it. What I can't imagine are stacks and stack and stacks of PS2's and XBoxes and so many GameBoys I can't see over the top of them! I desperately need to see that visual confirmation. I need to see just how amazed the hospital staff is going to be. Letters help, but again, it's when I look at the photos from the first year that I grasp the enormity of what Child's Play does.
If I feel this way, I have to imagine others feel this way as well. I think adding extra hospitals was a good thing, because people will contribute more if they know they can contribute some place close, but I think even more would contribute if they could just see what other gamers are doing. I know guys who didn't have much to spare but sent a pack of batteries just because they wanted to be a part of that giant stack of stuff. "Did you see what all the other gamers are doing? I had to do something" was a common refrain. I haven't heard that since the first year, and I think photos have something to do with it.
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