Suggestion - Charity Drive For Christmas

[Trent]

This thread is one which is close to my heart.

Last Christmas I spent time in the Royal Childrens Hospital in Brisbane with my very sick 9 month old including Christmas Day in the Intensive Care Unit. I am well aware of what it is like for families spending time in hospital through that time of year. One of the things which made a big difference to us was a visit from Santa and and gift that he brought for my little princess.

This year personally I will be taking a wad of Transformers to the RCH in Brisbane. I see this as a way to do my bit for little ones and also share the joy of Transformers to the next generation.

With the local Big W (and I am guessing all of them will) doing RID Prime Commanders for $5.00 this is a cheap way to do a nice thing for some kids and parents who could really do with a ray of sunshine.

To put this in perspective the RCH accepts patients from Brisbane and anyone North of Brisbane whose local Hospital does not have the specific facilities to deal with your childs needs.

Here is a link to the Working wonders charity information for toy donations.

https://www.workingwonders.com.au/do...s-and-services

If anyone on the Gold Coast would like to take part, I visit the Hospital on a monthly basis with my little one and can deliver it to the hospital.

I like that idea

[UltraMarginal]

This is a great idea, similar to threads we have had in the past couple years leading up to Christmas. Last year was simply an effort in leaving Transformers under the Giving Trees at Kmart and other chain stores.
The year before was an effort in collecting transformers from members and donating to a charity that provides for Children living in unfortunate circumstances (Poverty, Orphans mainly I think)

[Cat]

I love that we've got a personal story here, thanks Holdobot.

I love the sound of this. What do others think?

I understand that some may find it more convenient to give cash donations, so what may end up happening, depending on approval from here of course, is a temp bank account opened, that everyone can send funds to.

I'm willing to put my name on it, but the only thing is that I don't want to be the only signatory. This is purely for reasons of good faith. While I have many years of experience of working in banking, and thus am used to handling sums astronomically larger than what we're talking, I would still prefer to have at least one other signatory, so that everyone can feel comfortable with that.

What do you guys think?

As to how to donate cash, well, we've already seen various proposals. I personally like the idea of putting aside an amount or percentage of cost for each item purchased in the lead-up to Xmas. I wonder if we could get a pool going for that, as a way to encourage each other, and others, to take part?

[Holdobot]

I love that we've got a personal story here, thanks Holdobot.

I am happy to share my experience, and there are so many worthwhile causes that are deserving Australia wide. I will personally dropping toys to the Hospital, and happy to to support a group cause also.

A suggestion for the administration is this web site. I have not used it but have heard about from others. It is an easy way to set up a collection.

http://www.mycause.com.au/

[Cat]

And that is an awesome link.

Thanks, mate.

I'll check it out thoroughly over the next few days, and hopefully that'll be an easy way to do it.

For anyone interested in doing a 'bounty' system like the one I proposed (donate $X for every deluxe, $Y for every MP etc), I encourage you to track your purchases and record them in the monthly Acquisitions thread, so you've got an easy record.

[Gofigure]

Brilliant I'm in.

A bit of philanthropy never hurt anyone especially at Christmas

I will work out an amount and post here if that's cool?

Just point me in the right direction after that

[Cat]

What system do people like the sound of more? (although it's of course, that's rather irrelevant as you donate what you want anyway).

Does anyone else like the idea of setting a value on figures/merchandise in certain 'categories' that will cover the next 5 weeks? EG For those participating, getting MP Soundwave would be a $5 donation to your running tally, to be determind at the end. (Note that those numbers aren't firm, and would be the next part of negotiations. I just filled it in there to help illustrate the method).

Or would you rather some other way, such as set donations?

[Gofigure]

I'm easy either way.

I guess though if we went with the purchase system there would be incentive to buy a lot more over the next month

[Trent]

It doesn't worry me either. Cash or toys. Just gotta remember that if we buy toys that girls don't necessarily like TFs. Might have to buy a few MLP or Bratz or whatever they're into as well.