Worldbuilders

Coinflip let you know earlier this week about a wonderful charity called Child's Play, and a great group of people doing crazy things to raise money for it, called Desert Bus.  I have been watching the antics myself and considering my annual charitable donation going to them.  But I have another charity that I consider every year.  And, in the footsteps of my compatriot, I am going to just drop a short post hear to draw your attention to another great charity: Worldbuilders.

Worldbuilders just fired up its engines for its annual drive, and this year they are looking to blow through their previous totals.  The charity is devoted to helping those in need around the world by, not just providing food and clean water, but actually giving people the means to produce and maintain their own food and water sources.  They buy farm animals to raise and breed by those they help.  They build water filtration systems and teach the people they help how to maintain them.  They provide sustainable help, not just one-off aid that may not last as long as people need.

One of the pillars of the charity is fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss.  He has an infectious dedication to this cause, and that spills over to those that he knows in the community, resulting in a store and an auction that offers unique and exciting items for sale, with all proceeds going towards the charity.  There is also a raffle, with each increment of $10 you donate giving you one entry.  And the raffle is huge, with items you will never find anywhere else.  In addition, Worldbuilders has access to matching funds, up to 1 million dollars.  So every $1 you donate is matched until the million is depleted.  Pretty amazing.  As are some of the stretch goals, where, if the donating reaches certain thresholds, Pat gets community members to do wild and wonderful things, like Neil Gaiman reading the community's choice of works (like he did last year, and previous years).

It's the season of giving, and you are inundated with people and organizations asking you to help.  We understand that.  But we wanted to bring your attention to two worthy charities that could use your help.  If you choose one to help, awesome!  You have helped someone in need and made the world a little brighter.  If you choose some other charity, cool beans.  If you don't have the money to help, not a problem at all!  Just spread the word about a charity of your choice.  That word of mouth is how these charities continue to help how the are able.  So Tweet it, Facebook it, write it on a piece of cardboard and hang it from a phone pole.

Thanks for you attention and have a good one! We will be back to our regularly-scheduled content shortly.  Cheers!