Decide the Fate of Carmine in Gears of War 3

Microsoft and Epic Games are running a charity promotion in which the public gets to decide the fate of Clayton Carmine in the upcoming Gears of War 3.  Fans of the series may recall that Clayton Carmine’s brothers Anthony and Benjamin met with some untimely ends in previous Gears of War games.  Will Clayton follow in his brother’s footsteps, or do what no Carmine has done before… survive?

The promotion started last month at Comic-Con, where attendees could cast their vote by purchasing real-life limited edition “Save Carmine” or “Carmine Must Die” t-shirts, with the proceeds going to one of my favorite charities, Child’s Play.  You can also buy them online at Amazon or NECA.  That has carried over to Xbox Live Marketplace, where you can buy male or female versions of the t-shirts for your avatar for 80 Microsoft Points (that’s $1.00 to you and me).  Or if you want to give to the charity in a fun way but aren’t a Gears of War fan, you can buy a Child’s Play Charity t-shirt for your avatar.

Voting ends September 2, 2010, so cast your vote now!  You can follow along with the charity promotion on the Gears of War section of Xbox.com

CAG Fund for Child’s Play 2009 Charity Raffle Extravaganza!

The last few years, the Cheap Ass Gamer website has run a charity raffle for the Child’s Play charity, which donates games, books, toys and cash to sick kids in children’s hospitals around the world.  My family has personally seen the benefits from organizations like this and I highly encourage everyone to donate to this worthy cause.  Last year I promoted the CAG raffle as a way to donate to Child’s Play, and donated myself, and I won an Xbox 360 Elite from the raffle!  From the raffle this year:

Last year, CAGs raised over $32,000 (up from $27K in 2007) for Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity. This year, let’s see if we can hit $40,000 before the year is through.

For every $5 donated via PayPal through the CAG ChipIn system, you will receive one entry into a raffle with great prizes, including $500 Amazon and $300 Play-Asia gift certificates. We’ve also got a ton of great prizes from the generous CAG community. I expect the prize list to grow and grow until the very end of the fundraiser.

Please consider donating to the cause this year.  They are around the $10,000 mark but have a long way to go to reach their goal.

Child’s Play, Xbox 360 Elite, Microsoft Hoops, and Netflix

Just wanted to give an quick update for the Child’s Play Charity fundraising efforts I promoted several times on my blog towards the end of last year.  Their grand total this year was $1,434,377!  A new high!  Thank you to everyone who donated.  Children in hospitals around the country (and the world) greatly appreciate it.

On a more personal note… I won a prize in the CAG Fund for Child’s Play 2008 Charity Raffle Extravaganza!

Child’s Play Charity CD

The Child’s Play charity fundraising drive is in full swing, with the total surpassing the million dollar mark!  I hope a few dollars came to them from my mention of the Cheapassgamer chipin program a few weeks ago.  The folks at Penny Arcade announced this week a new Child’s Play Charity CD, which brings together some of the “biggest names in nerdcore.”  Here’s the track list:

Track List:

1. Armcannon – Go Go Power Rangers
2. The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets – Kill the Chupacabra
3. The Grammar Club – Underbeard
4. Select Start – Terra
5. The OneUps – Crash Man
6. MC Lars – The Lint Song
7. Anamanaguchi – Dawn Metropolis
8. Michael “Piano Squall” Gluck – Korobeiniki
9. Freezepop- Pop Music is Not a Crime (Mustin Mix)
10. MC Frontalot – Better at Rapping
11. Jonathan Coulton – Still Alive feat. Felicia Day
12. The Smash Brothers – Onett
13. Beefy – Game Store Girl
14. Jake “virt” Kaufman – Plasmatextor

100% of the proceeds of the CD, as well as proceeds from sales of the greeting cards and men’s and women’s t-shirts, go directly to the charity.  If you haven’t given yet this year (or even if you have!), here’s a good opportunity to support a good cause and get some good tunes as well.  I have mine on order.

CAG Fund for Child’s Play 2008 Charity Raffle Extravaganza!

It’s time once again for the Child’s Play charity fundraiser.  As I mentioned last year, the Child’s Play charity raises money to buy toys, games and books for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world.  As a parent of a child who spent several years recieving treatment at one such hospital, such charities are near and dear to my heart.  I even have Child’s Play and a few similar charities listed in the right column of my site year-round.

I’d highly recommend that if you have a few bucks to spare this holiday season and want to give to something worthwhile, you consider Child’s Play.  As an added bonus, if you donate through Cheapassgamer.com, you can be entered into a giant raffle.  According to the site:

For every $5 donated via PayPal through the CAG ChipIn system, you will receive one entry into a raffle with great prizes such as a $500 Amazon Gift Certificate, Xbox 360 console mega bundle w/50+ games, and much more!

I donated through Cheapassgamer.com last year, and the site raised $27,000 for Child’s Play.  The money donated via PayPal from their site goes directly to the charity.  I upped my donation from last year.  Please consider giving this holiday season.

St. Louis Ride for Kids

My daughter and brain tumor patient Isabelle smiles before the 2007 ride.

It’s that time of year again.  Time for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Ride for Kids.  The one in St. Louis is held each year in September.  Last year, the St. Louis Ride for Kids raised $69,780.  The seventh annual event in St. Louis will be on Sunday, September 21st.  It starts at St. Charles Community College and we ride our through the beautiful Missouri countryside, looping back to the college for lunch.  If you are a motorcycle owner, ride out and join us!  Registration is $35, starts at 8 a.m. and closes at 9:45 a.m., with the ride starting at 10 a.m.

If you don’t have a bike but would like to donate, you can send a registration form and donations to PBTF, 302 Ridgefield Ct., Asheville, NC 28806. Mark your form “Not Attending” to credit.  This will credit the St. Louis event.

You can see all the inforamtion on their website.  Hope to see you there, and thanks for your support!

Child’s Play

Child’s Play‘s 2007 campaign kickoff has begun. If you’ve scrolled down the right side of my blog, you may have noticed a Donate section, and one of the links is to Child’s Play. Child’s Play is a Seattle based, gamer-run organization that holds an annual toy drive for childrens’ hospitals in the U.S. and around the world.

I know from experience that my daughter enjoyed the video games they had at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis when she was there weekly for chemotherapy. That’s exactly the sort of thing that Child’s Play provides to hospitals around the country. (In fact, that hospital was added to this year’s list of recipients.) So if you are looking for a worthy charity this holiday season, please consider giving to Child’s Play.

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