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Child's Play 2007 Gets Underway
It is well worth mentioning that a post by Tycho over on the Penny Arcade site signals the kickoff for Child's Play 2007. This year they have over 30 hospitals spread across five countries, and (as always) every little bit helps. From Mr. Brahe's post: "At the last Child's Play dinner, a man whose son was currently staying at Seattle Children's Hospital - he'd left him temporarily, to attend - literally could not produce the words to thank me. The depth of his appreciation bordered on anguish. I hardly knew how to respond, other than attribute those comforts to their true authors. The opportunity to be excellent has arisen again. Just as in years past, visit the site proper, choose your favorite hospital, and select your toy. We promise to let you know how incredible you are at regular intervals."
Scrape 20 bucks up and go buy something.
They keep nothing, the world volunteer, everything goes to the hospital.
Your charity will allow children in pain to laugh and forget.
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These guys continually try to convince the world that they're assholes. They will tell you repeatedly what mean, horrible people they are, while at the same time donating $10,000 in Jack Thompson's name, creating a scholarship out of their pockets, and organizing this great charity where they pocket absolutely nothing.
Man, they suck at proving what horrible people they are.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Because other charities help with equipment and such. Not so many of them give much thought to kids stuck in hospitals for weeks at a time with nothing to do but stare at the wall or sit in front of daytime TV.
The problem with that is that they won't prioritize enough money for fun. For almost any institution it's very difficult to intentionally spend the right amount of money on fun, despite how tremendously important it is. Morale makes a huge difference, whether you're developing software, building airplanes, or (especially) battling cancer. But it's very challenging to justify such expenses when there are many very serious and dour individuals scrutinizing your bottom line. The fact is that the medical industry, even if you restrict it to pediatric care, is a multi-billion dollar a year industry (just in America, the total health-care expenses for adults and children is over a trillion dollars per year). Third parties can make a big difference here because they are better able to say how much fun is enough, but overall the total amount spent is just a tiny fraction of a percent of the amount of money spent actually taking care of these kids.
Why isn't this a slashdot main feature article? I'm sure this is a lot more important than "OMG Iphone hax0red with 5 byte hack!". This project could use some slashdot attention.
Every nonprofit organization has a specific mission. And to stay alive, they need to focus on that mission, otherwise every charity would just devolve into "Give Money To Whomever Or Whatever Needs It This Week, Inc." This charity's mission is to provide toys and games to sick children in children's hospitals. Not to provide entertainment for sick adults. Not to provide homes to homeless dogs. Not to buy new CT scanners. If you want to help with any of those missions, there are other nonprofits that you can donate to - including the hospitals themselves directly. If you want to provide toys and games to sick children in children's hospitals, this is a good way to do it.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Remember that there are teenagers in children's hospitals, too. And they may want individual copies for different wards, so that they don't have to shuffle the video collection around constantly. No, there may never be a time when five kids want to watch it at once, but at least the kid sitting in oncology doesn't have to hike over to the burn unit to get a copy, nor do the nurses have to waste time searching the hospital.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.