In light of how Lynn was an avid gamer, I thought an appropriate choice for a memorial fundraising drive might be Child’s Play. This is a great charity which works directly with hospitals to provide video games, toys, books, and the like to sick kids.
As Child’s Play has a widget put together to allow us to track a fundraiser, I went ahead and put together a site we can use to track our donations.
You can donate from that page or through this link using PayPal. These donations go directly to the charity, not through me or anyone from the boards. They are tax-deductible. You can even earmark the funds for a hospital you prefer by simply leaving a note on your donation. A map of participating hospitals is here.
If this isn’t your thing, TubaDiva rightly pointed out that Lynn also was a lover of animals, and an alternative charity choice that would be appropriate is your local animal shelter.
For those of who who can’t donate, you can also participate sharing this thread or the site above, or even just bumping the thread.
As well as the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. However, unfortunately I don’t see any evidence that they can provide Canadian charitable donation receipts. Oh well.
Amazing, guys and gals. Thanks so much to everyone. I did more the goal upward, but just so anyone knows, though, it’s not a limit, just a goal for fun. We can donate any amount, so don’t be discouraged from giving whatever you like.
One note on the site fundraising totals updating, in case anyone’s concerned: the widget should update around every 60 seconds or so with the PayPal donations it has received, assuming the funds have actually gotten through. Most PayPal payments are instant these days, but “eCheck” payments will take a little time.
The fundraising status will show the update when the charity actually receives the funds. In other words, on your end, the PayPal status for the transaction must say “Complete” before it’ll show up on the total.
Sorry to have to break the bad news to any folks who haven’t been in ATMB today.
I love this. I can think of no better way to honor Lynn’s passing.
A technical note. I got an error message from the site when I made a donation, saying it was not completed. But I just got an e-mail from PayPal with a receipt for the right amount and with the text I wrote. If anyone else gets an error message while donating, please wait for ten minutes and check your e-mail and/or account balance to be sure.