Penny-Arcade's Gabe (one of the guys who started Childs Play) just posted the following message. (Sorry, no link due to non-pg nature of their main site).
Childs Play 2005 is ready to go. This is our third year and Im sure many of
you are familiar with the process by now. If all you needed was the word
from me to get started then please, by all means have at our new Childs Play
site. For those of you who arent familiar with Childs Play Ill break it down for
you.
At the most basic level Childs Play is a way for gamers to help sick kids in
Childrens Hospitals. These hospitals obviously receive plenty of donations
year round but what we learned is that the money they get for the most part
is spent on things much more important than toys. Things like medicine and
equipment are a bigger priority than say Crash Bandicoot.
These Kids need toys though. They need games to play and crafts to make in
order to take their minds off their situations. Something as simple as a Game
Boy can make the stay in one of these Hospitals much more bearable for a
kid. That my friends, is where we come in. Penny Arcade has teamed up with
Amazon to create wish lists for Childrens hospitals all over the world this
year. Each list is full of age appropriate games and toys. You simply select a
hospital from the map and choose a gift. Easy as pie.
These toys are used in a number of different ways. First they get distributed
to kids in the hospitals during the holidays. They are also given out to the
brothers and sisters of these kids who often times end up spending all their
time at the Hospitals as well. Many of the toys will go to re-stock the play
rooms and activity centers in the Hospitals. Finally some of the toys will be
stored and then given to kids throughout the year as they come out of
surgery.
People like Jack Thompson are welcome to scream at the top of their lungs
about the gamer menace. They can go on television and lie about our hobby
until theyre blue in the face. In the meantime, we as gamers will come
together and quietly change the lives of hundreds of thousands of sick
children all over the world for the better.
You are, of course, more than welcome to buy toys directly via the wish lists on childsplaycharity.org . However, if you'd like to participate as a member of Carnage Blender please consider sending donations to ChildsPlay2005. I will convert donations to USD and make a combined contribution in December.