Board Games and Baldies: A St. Baldrick's Fundraising Event

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As many of you know, my parents have both had their run-ins with the nasty piece of work called cancer. My father had a very brief scare with prostate cancer that was thankfully treated quickly and effectively. My mother was less fortunate, as a bout of breast cancer led to a double mastectomy and nearly nine months of grueling chemotherapy before she finally went into remission. In addition, we Goodjers have lost several of our own over the years. Recently, I met a woman who's been involved with a charity known as St. Baldrick's Foundation, an organization that works to raise money for childhood cancer research. I reached out to St. Baldrick's to express my interest in getting involved, and after speaking with them, I've agreed to organize a St. Baldrick's fundraising event near Nashville, TN.

The event will take place on August 1. St. Baldrick's events are based around volunteers shaving their heads, and people pledging their support to those volunteers. That's about all I know so far. I'm planning on reaching out to a board game store in Murfreesboro, TN (just south of Nashville) to see if the owner would be interested in hosting the event. I know him well, and he's heavily involved in the community. This seems like the kind of thing that's right up his alley. I need a name for the event, a theme, and some ideas for promoting it. And that's where you fine people come in.

I need suggestions, ideas, and any and all support that this community can provide. This is an amazing cause, and I will put everything I can into making sure that this event is a success, but I can't do it alone. Some local friends have offered their support, and any local Goodjers that are willing to chip in are very welcome. I know I'd like to come up with an idea to get the local gaming community involved.

Thanks for any and all help. I've seen the amazing talent and generosity that lurks within these forums, and I know that with some help, we can really make a hell of a difference.

EDIT: If you want to become a shavee, let me know. We will list all the Goodjers throwing their weight behind this fundraiser by cutting their golden locks below, and you can choose who's haircut you want to finance!

If you want to donate to Trichy shaving his head, go here!
If you want to donate to cartoonin99 shaving his head, go here!

EDIT: We're partnering with some Honored Kids in the area, children who are currently battling cancer or are recently in remission. Part of St. Baldrick's purpose is to support the treatment costs of these kids, and several of them are really excited to come to the event. Here are a few of the people you're going to be supporting. We have permission from all of their parents to post their event in order to help boost awareness.

Analise
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Alex
IMAGE(https://www.stbaldricks.org/photo/kid/4797/3)

Leah Bee
IMAGE(https://www.stbaldricks.org/photo/kid/5830/gallery/3/14)

Hunter
IMAGE(https://www.stbaldricks.org/photo/kid/3243/gallery/0/14)

We officially have a venue! Roll The Dice, a local board game store, is going to host our event on August 1st!

Good luck with the event Trichy! While it might be a bit far for me to attend in person, I'll be with you in spirit and will make a local donation.

I will be keeping an eye on this. When time comes, I will do what I can to be involved.

Okay, it's official. We'll be holding the fundraiser on August 1 at Roll The Dice in Murfreesboro, TN. We're going to plan some board game events, and there's lots of table space to play, so if you're anywhere near the Middle Tennessee area, this should be a lot of fun. All shavees, myself included, will be getting our heads shaved at the event while people look on and mock my misshapen head.

A few local kids who have survived their own bouts with childhood cancer are going to be there. I spoke to one young man, a 7-year-old leukemia survivor, on the phone last night, and he's really excited to come play some games with people. I've asked my mother to be the speaker at the event. She's worked with families dealing with cancer, and has survived breast cancer herself.

I still need a name for the event. I'd like something that incorporates tabletop gaming and head shaving. I suggested The Bald Meeple, but Jen immediately pointed out that sounds really, REALLY dirty.

Hey Trichy, is there still room for being one of the unkempt shorn?

cartoonin99 wrote:

Hey Trichy, is there still room for being one of the unkempt shorn?

Absolutely! The more shavees we have, the better. And they don't need to be local; there's definitely a way for people around the country to be part of the event.

I'm cleanshaven and bald, but am really glad that you're doing this, trichy.

Love gamers leveling up their charity skills - hope the event's a resounding success.

Echoing the general thoughts here. Really glad to see more gamers getting involved in charity events like this. I'm also not local, but I'd be thrilled to get involved with this.

So far, the lead contender for the event name is Board Games and Baldies. It's growing on me.

For those interested in signing up as shavees, here's the link. If you're able to make it to Murfreesboro (just south of Nashville) on the day of the event, great. If not, that's all right as well. We'll have a way for you to post the video of you getting buzzed. Most stylists/barbers will do it for free if it's part of a fundraising event.

So, this might sound a little silly, but since the GWJ community is pretty wide-spread across the country (and the world) would it be too crazy to consider working something out with different areas via, say, a twitch stream? Then we could all participate in the same event, even though we're in different places.

I love the idea, but I'll say that I have no idea how to set something like that up.

Logistics be damned!

Yeah, I got nothing on that front. That sounds like a lengthy journey and a specific skill set that even Liam Neeson cannot provide.

Woot! AEG has agreed to donate some games to the event for a silent auction. I've contacted quite a few other companies to seek their support as well.

I'll ping the Streamers with Jobs thread. See if anyone there has some knowledge they can contribute on the mater.

Hey gang, streamer here.

Getting set up with streaming isn't all that particularly difficult. You need some broadcasting software, a machine with a little "oomph" (though that's more for streaming AND gaming - for just cameras, this shouldn't be such a big deal) and a decent Internet connection.

I made the mistake, during last year's Extra Life event of planning to do part of my time at a local geek bar, and streaming from there . . . and then not checking their Internet speed, so I'd recommend starting with that. Hit up your gamestore, and run a speedtest on their connection. Ideally you'd want 3Mbps upload, though I think you can get by with around 2Mbps upload.

For software, you'd probably want to just run with Open Broadcasting Software (OBS). It's a freeware streaming solution and supports twitch and other streaming services pretty well. (I'm personally a fan of XSplit, but with a $40/year licence fee, I doubt that's your best choice).

For streaming board games, you'd really just want to setup a camera (or cameras?) on/around the table, and USB them all into the computer/laptop you'll be using. You then tell OBS how to layout those cameras for display, maybe add test with donation URLs to float on the screen, create a twitch account, and start streaming. If you know someone who takes photos and you can get some lighting setup, that won't hurt either.

There's some fiddling around to setup your "scene", but dragging boxes around until the view looks how you want isn't the hardest thing to do.

I'd be happy to do some one-on-one time with TeamViewer or the like to help with the "fiddling around with software" bit, both because I like to help others stream, and because its for a good cause.

wolfstar76 wrote:

Awesome generosity and knowledge about streaming.

That's excellent, and if we could make that happen, it would really be terrific! I'm meeting the store owner this weekend, so I'll send you the information about the upload speed and the like.

Few new pieces of information. We have a few new sponsors, including a salon that will providing licensed stylists for the event. That's awesome. There's a local cosplay group that frequently does events at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital that's offered their time to entertain children at the event. Also awesome. We've also received permission to hold a silent auction to raise funds. As such, if any Goodjers have any board games they aren't playing any longer (in good condition) that they'd like to donate for the auction, reach out to me, and I'll give you the address.

Finally, St. Baldrick's is excited about having some local children supported by the organization come to take part in the event. I got to meet one of them yesterday, a nine-year-old boy named Alex who is being treated for medullablastoma. Alex is really excited to meet some superheroes (one of the cosplayers is coming as Batman, his favorite), and he and I are meeting up next week to play some games. He loves Apples to Apples, and plays games with his older brother quite a bit. He's an awesome kid, and knowing that he's going to be there makes me want to make this event amazing.

If you're interested I can put you in touch with the SJGames demo team for down there? They could possibly set up demos and give out promos. Sometimes in a blue moon they can also get things to go in a charity auction.

I am stoked to attend the event.

If you would like to donate to a very worthwhile cause: https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/801547/2015

The link already has my before picture and I will be sure to upload my after!

Igneus wrote:

If you're interested I can put you in touch with the SJGames demo team for down there? They could possibly set up demos and give out promos. Sometimes in a blue moon they can also get things to go in a charity auction.

Yes! That'd be excellent!

Chrome Dome Tabletop Zone

trichy, I know we talked and I'm out of town, but if you want to borrow my pitchcar set you're welcome to it. At least, as long as you promise to be careful.

trichy wrote:
wolfstar76 wrote:

Awesome generosity and knowledge about streaming.

That's excellent, and if we could make that happen, it would really be terrific! I'm meeting the store owner this weekend, so I'll send you the information about the upload speed and the like.

Sure thing! Just fire off a PM at your leisure.

trichy wrote:
wolfstar76 wrote:

Awesome generosity and knowledge about streaming.

That's excellent, and if we could make that happen, it would really be terrific! I'm meeting the store owner this weekend, so I'll send you the information about the upload speed and the like.

Sure thing! Just fire off a PM at your leisure.

We got sponsored by a local pharmacy chain. They've agreed to donate $50 for each shavee that we sign up! This is pretty exciting.

trichy wrote:

We got sponsored by a local pharmacy chain. They've agreed to donate $50 for each shavee that we sign up! This is pretty exciting.

That's awesome news!

Minarchist wrote:

Chrome Dome Tabletop Zone

trichy, I know we talked and I'm out of town, but if you want to borrow my pitchcar set you're welcome to it. At least, as long as you promise to be careful. :-)

Sweet! I'll put my most anal retentive volunteer in charge of making sure Pitchcar remains pristine.

trichy wrote:

We got sponsored by a local pharmacy chain. They've agreed to donate $50 for each shavee that we sign up! This is pretty exciting.

I'd like to read your newsletter (when you're done with all this footwork) for any tips you might have for getting local business support. I'd like to do something like that with this year's Extra Life fundraising.

wolfstar76 wrote:
trichy wrote:

We got sponsored by a local pharmacy chain. They've agreed to donate $50 for each shavee that we sign up! This is pretty exciting.

I'd like to read your newsletter (when you're done with all this footwork) for any tips you might have for getting local business support. I'd like to do something like that with this year's Extra Life fundraising.

My basic tactic is to be completely shameless, and beg anyone who seems to have even the tiniest revenue stream to fund us. There may be tears involved.

I am pretty sure Trichy mentioned something about homeless diabetic puppies to them, but I could be mistaken.

We just crossed our first thousand in donations!