When you start something, you just hope it will make sense to other people. We have been lucky in this regard, I would say, and nowhere luckier than Child's Play.
People thank us for Child's Play, when it's actually something you did, and I am always quick to tell them so. Maybe I named it that. And Kiko did the design, I guess. And Gabe let us do the whole thing out of his garage. But lots of people have ideas, and they don't turn into this, because they don't have you on the other end of them to make it real. Child's Play raised 8.43 Million dollars this year. I remember when it "only" raised Two-Hundred Fifty Thousand, and I know it well, because I had to shuck all those toys out of their shipping boxes twelve hours a day. Over the life of the project, Child's Play now represents 33.6 million dollars raised. It started at Seattle Children's Hospital, because that was the closest one. The first year, I helped unload a semi worth of toys before the sun was even up into an empty pool they had in their basement; you could literally swim in toys. Now, Child's Play represents 112 hospitals - 90 Domestic, and 22 International - many of which were integrated based on your suggestions. Thank you.
When we thought about other places a child might be put into a situation beyond their control, Domestic Violence Shelters came immediately to mind. That initiative is still very new, but we've got a completely turn-key gaming kiosk we designed as part of this program - and we can ship one at a moment's notice to any of the 110 shelters in a continually growing network. This is all real stuff - actual, human stuff that has already helped hundreds of thousands of kids and continues to do so. We have made a complex social machine to do this, to solve a problem, and it runs day and night.
Thank you for grabbing Humble Bundles, for tuning in to Gaming Marathons, hitting the wishlists, and for sharing Christmas with others. I keep thinking I'll be able to contain my gratitude with one of these, but you keep putting it just out of reach.
(CW)TB
