As it is getting toward the holiday season, we tend to shift our attention towards the people around us. For me, this means getting involved with a variety of volunteering positions and charities, some that involve gaming and some that do not. Today, November 3rd, marks an important day for two of the charities that I have had the opportunity to become involved in some way with. With both of these, today is the last and main day to donate.
Extra Life 2018
Today is game day 2018. It will be marked for me by playing dungeons and dragons with my friends, and getting as many games in as I can. I have been raising money since August for this cause, and I am just short of my 300$ goal. The money is going towards helping children’s hospitals provide care to children. Any funds raised help improve equipment, provide services and continue research that will help put an end to cancer in children. Today is the culmination of the 2018 season for Extra Life, where all kinds of gamers meet either in public, at home, or at conventions to play games for 24 hours in honor of these hospitals. I have currently raised 265$ of my 300$ goal. If you are interested in helping me meet my goal, I would appreciate it if you would check out this link: https://www.extra-life.org/participant/MackotheMeeple
Stonemaier Games’ Annual Charity Auction
A second charity that is coming to it’s culmination today is Stonemaier Games’ Annual Charity Auction. Each year Stonemaier Games chooses ten content creators to help participate in the charity auction. This year, I had to opportunity to participate. By participating, I was given the option to choose a charity that was important to me. During this event there are ten auctions taking place, one for each person/charity. Gamers then place bids on the charity of their choosing. The highest bid in each of the auctions receives four signed sets of the new metal mechs for Scythe. In addition to the funds raised by bidding, Stonemaier Games matches the donations up to 500$ each, and Fullrite will be matching the highest bid up to $2,000. There are a variety of causes to help too including those that help people with cancer, those that help animals in need, and those in support of mental health care.
The charity I choose to support with my donations was Stand Up for Kids. It is an organization that provides housing, education, job training, and medical insurance to homeless youth. Volunteers help work with these children to keep them in school and break the cycle of poverty. It is a cause that is especially important to me, because I have students who struggle with being homeless. I know that many of my students run the risk of dropping out of school, just so that they can get a job and survive. Many of these students do not have even the basic necessities they need to survive such as food, a coat, and access to consistent places to take care of hygiene needs. We try to do as much as possible while they are at school, but we cannot help them once they leave our care. It breaks my heart and weighs heavy on my brain every single day.
If you are interested in participating in this giveaway, you will want to act quickly. The auction closes today at 11:00 am CDT. The link to check it out is here: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/247300/scythe-metal-mechs-special-edition-charity-auction. If the cost of the auctions are too high for you, but you still want to help there are a variety of ways to do so. You can share the auction to help spread the word. Even better, Stonemaier Games has decided to give 5% of all sales while the auction is live from the Stonemaier Games Webstore to the charities. It is a great time to pick up a Stonemaier Game that is missing from your collection, or get an accessory you have been considering, because you will be helping a great cause.
How I am Giving Back to the Community
The community has helped me raise money in both of these efforts. I cannot thank the community enough for their never ending support. I am amazed how everyone has come together to support these wonderful causes and I wanted to say thank you in some way. It has lead me to working with Top Shelf Gamer on another awesome giveaway that will be ending today. I posted about it earlier in the week, but I also wanted to reshare it and wish you all absolutely the best of luck in winning it. Thank all of you again in your support of these causes, the board gaming community as a whole is absolutely wonderful and generous. Here is the link to that giveaway if you are interested in entering: http://bit.ly/2OeNCJO
The Meeple Street 