RetroRoleplaying: The Blog

While I have a lot of "acting experience" from playing NPCs in RPGs for over 30 years, my sole true acting experience was in high school. I was Gentleman #1 in A Christmas Carol. I had very few lines and most were very short. My longest line was "At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

I was reminded of this line a couple of nights ago when one of our neighbors, a retired marine sergeant, made his annual visit to all the neighbors asking for donations for Toys for Tots. He came at a bad time as we had just lost our seventeen-year dachshund earlier in the afternoon, but somehow the idea of children without Christmas presents snapped us out of our funk long enough to invite him in for some of my wife's Christmas baking and a donation for Toys for Tots. It's a great cause and the Marine Reserve has always done a wonderful job with the program. There are never enough toys to go around, of course, as the need is always great.

Later that night, I remember that Michael Shorten (aka ChicagoWiz/ChgoWiz) used to have annual Toys for Tots donation drive on his (now unfortunately defunct) blog. Seeing how much success we had with a combined donation drive for Karen's House and the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund earlier in the year, I decided that there are a lot of children out there that we gamers could help with a quick donation drive for Toys for Tots via my blog. I may not have the power of persuasion that ChicagoWiz had, but I think the cause and the group behind it speak for themselves: Toys for Tots, powered by US Marines and a lot of civilians like us donating toys and money, doing their best to see that no child goes without a toy for Christmas.

Therefore, for the next 2 days (say until 5:59 CST Sunday evening) any money donated to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund will be split 50/50 (after Paypal fees, if any) between Toys for Tots and the cancer fund. Donors will still get full credit for their total donation in chances to win the donor Giveaways I'm giving away. Only 50% of the donation will count toward donor amount for the high donor OD&D items Todd is giving to the one of the three highest donors. To make this clear, let's say you donate $50 and there are no Paypal fees (as you donated from your Paypal balance), $25 would go to Toys for Tots and $25 to the Retroroleplaying Cancer Fund. You'd get 50 chances in the drawings for the donor giveaway items and $25 of the donation would count towards Todd's "high donor" OD&D item giveaway.

So here's a chance to help two decent causes with one stone, err donation. If you can spare a ten or a twenty, or even more, it will help so much. Toys for Tots will be able to help more children and I will pay off more cancer bills. To donate and help Toys for Tots, send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- via Paypal before 5:59pm CST Sunday evening (December 16th).

GENTLEMAN #2: "...a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?" -- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol