It sounds like a great idea but I have to admit that it''s not likely I''d make a contibution. I donate to a couple of charities on a regular basis and steadfastly stick to those 2 only. Granted it could just be me being weird like that and everyone else swings the opposite way. But other than random bouts of game site support, I''m not one to take the go-with-the-charity-of-the-moment approach to giving away money and/or stuff.

I pretty much agree with Slambie. It''s a great idea and I hope I can contribute this year to PA at least...but between public radio, my church, and my favorite other charities, dontations to which make GREAT Christmas gifts, I''m all tapped out.

I dont do much with the local charities anymore, I used to give to lots of them but then they all took to selling my name off to the others and for a while I was getting 10+ calls a week which caused me to quit answering the phone. I did buy something through the PA thing last year and plan to again this year. I could see doing something like that through GWJ too but at least for the first year I would probably do the 2nd option of a GWJ bulk donation to the PA thing. Would be a good dry run for doing our own next year

Same experience as Dokujin. Every donation I''ve made has been followed by two years of weasely spamming (it''s not us, it''s the marketing department that tells us it''s for our own good!).

If we can find a common ground to what charities are important to us, rotate them, and make a trimestrial (?) fundraising, it could work. Even if we only get 10$ each from 50 members, that''s better than nothing. And, after a while, Elysium would get enough crap mail to start his own recycling plant for even more money input.

I can''t give anything right now, but possibly next year. A brainstorming about possible goals/charities could be useful.

What he said.

I donate money to childrens'' psychiatric wards, because they are the only sick kids that get ignored by all the other fundraising drives. Got leukemia? Someone will hook you up with a bunch of stuff, and sympathy will be poured out by the bucket. Got bipolar disorder? You wackos get nothing, not even sympathy. This semi-famous article says it better than I can.

Personally I go to the local mall or walmart and get one of those angels off the trees you knwo the ones where it says something like ""Child age 9 boy needs shoes size 6 and shirt size 4"" I''ll usually buy the shoes and shirt and maybe small toy car for a boy or a doll for a girl, I think we''re going to do that again this year and do three (wife, son, and I). This way I know we get some kids exactly what they need for christmas and maybe a bit extra.

Since when do kids ask for what they need instead of what they want? (Yes, I understand what you were saying but as a parent, I couldn''t help myself.)

I''m down with something like that.

Hey Swampy, the motorcycle club I belong to has an annual benefit ride for the Fallen Heroes Fund. Probably the best thing about the fund is that there are no administrative costs deducted from the donations.

I''d be down with a GWJ contribution.

It''d be cool too to maybe put a couple of packages together (instead of ""Here, PA, here''s a bunch of random games and cash"") to sort of centralize and then present (""Here, PA, here''s an X-Box with 5 games and 6 months of X-Box Live, here''s a PS2 with a DDR pad and games, Here''s a GameCube with Donkey Konga and 4 bongos"") or something of that nature.

Not saying we need to go that crazy... we can tailor everything to our own abilities. But it would be cool, and have a little more heart than a lump donation.

If we''re able to donate to GWJ, even if part of the reason is because of the computer, it seems like we should also be able to donate to Child''s Play, or something like it. And I think a community of 900+ could do a lot more good than each of us individually.

Ok, so I''m sensing some interest in this. Seems like some people have other donation commitments, or maybe others aren''t quite in the Christmas giving mood yet.

But, I still think a collective GWJ donation would be boss. Even if it''s just one specific system, decked out (an XBox with Live and 6 games) or multiple packages to give to multiple kids (A GBA SP and Advance Wars 2, or something like that) I think it''d be really cool.

So, I''m volunteering to help out and organize anything that needs organizing. I''ve run quite a few philanthropic programs for my choir and for my fraternity, including a toy drive for Children''s Memorial in Chicago for 2 years (I think they stopped this after I graduated and if that''s true, screw them). Regardless, I''d love to help GWJ in putting something like this together.

Maybe we need to shelve it until closer to Christmas, but my feeling is allocate the games/funds ASAP, so as not to feel like ""guh, another thing I have to buy off of my measly Christmas week paycheck.""

UPDATE
They''ve updated their page so if people were going to donate anyway, we can try to pool our monies to reach the 500$ minimum to get GWJ on the front page. Good charity and publicity or something.

I''m all for donating something to some... any... worthy cause. Having said that and not understanding what the driving motivation (read: vast sekrit conspiracy) behind the site actually is, does GWJ *want* that sort of publicity?

I''m just asking. I was part of an earlier flood of newbs and never been called out on it, but I know communities tend to react negatively (and understandably) to a large influx of new blood. Also, if I can get the sekrit handshake and code ring for Inner Circle of the conspiracy, that''d be cool too. Thanks!

Check with Mex re: the secret handshake