GWG: Help Us Help Sick Kids
Donation protected
Help us provide hospitalized children with video games- faster healing, less pain, lower stress
It's not all fun and games. Studies have proven that playing video games can significantly reduce pain, relieve stress, and aid in faster healing.
If you've ever spent time in a hospital, or know anyone who has, especially a child, then you're aware of how much empty time there can be in-between tests, and procedures which are not particularly fun or pleasant to begin with. The Get-Well Gamers Foundation has one mission: to bring the powerful gift of healing through video games to more than 1.5 million children worldwide every year.
Who We Are
The Get-Well Gamers Foundation is a national 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to bringing video games, systems, and accessories to hospitalized children around the world since 2001. Studies have shown that providing hospitalized children with videogames lessens perceived pain, improves mood and outlook, and keeps the brain stimulated and occupied on things other than their disease or injury. There are even some video games specially designed to help patients with specific maladies out there, and we work to provide all of these games to our network of over 250 hospitals worldwide at no cost to the hospitals.
What We Have
Videogames! We have games, systems, and accessories, from the classic 8- and 16-bit systems all the way to the latest and greatest of the next-generation. Sports games, action games, role-playing games, games that make you think and games that make you move, each with their own niche in a healthcare setting to ensure each child has the best time they can during their hospital stay.
What We Need
In a word? Money. Though many generous gamers and companies have kept us well-stocked with games and systems to supply our hospitals with, we are severely lacking in financial donations. Though we try to run on what aid we can get without begging too much, the size and needs of the Foundation's mission is now more than our current model can financially bear, which is why we're now turning to crowdsourcing. Our hospital network covers cities as far away as Honolulu and Halifax, from Anchorage to Ashton-under-Lyne, and shipments of games and systems like the one below can cost hundreds of dollars a month, even using the slowest, cheapest transport method!
Where Your Money's Going
The Foundation prides itself on having a low overhead, foregoing any sort of corporate bells and whistles in favor of helping as many children as we possibly can each year. So in an effort to be transparent, here is a cost breakdown of everything we need to keep going in 2016.
$7,800 (650/mo. x 12 months) - One year of rent and utilities. The bare minimum to keep the lights on.
$500 - One year of minimum mandatory insurance for the above.
$4,800 (400/mo. x 12 months) - A year's worth of shipping costs, averaged out.
$2,800 - Yearly fees and expenses (Website maintenance, state/local fees/taxes, etc.)
In Conclusion
At Get-Well Gamers we've been reluctant to ask for money directly and understand that in today's economy it's definitely easier to donate a five-year-old game system system than part of a five-day-old paycheck, but there's no other way available to us at this point. Our grant applications go unanswered, our direct funding efforts haven't produced sustainable results, and our eBay store is only slightly slowing the burn of capital. We need this funding to continue our program that Child Life experts across North America call "Desperately needed" and "The best program for our patients." Please help us help children in hospitals around the world.
Thank you.
--Ryan Patrick Sharpe
President, The Get-Well Gamers Foundation
"Giving Kids A Power-Up!"
It's not all fun and games. Studies have proven that playing video games can significantly reduce pain, relieve stress, and aid in faster healing.
If you've ever spent time in a hospital, or know anyone who has, especially a child, then you're aware of how much empty time there can be in-between tests, and procedures which are not particularly fun or pleasant to begin with. The Get-Well Gamers Foundation has one mission: to bring the powerful gift of healing through video games to more than 1.5 million children worldwide every year.
Who We Are
The Get-Well Gamers Foundation is a national 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to bringing video games, systems, and accessories to hospitalized children around the world since 2001. Studies have shown that providing hospitalized children with videogames lessens perceived pain, improves mood and outlook, and keeps the brain stimulated and occupied on things other than their disease or injury. There are even some video games specially designed to help patients with specific maladies out there, and we work to provide all of these games to our network of over 250 hospitals worldwide at no cost to the hospitals.
What We Have
Videogames! We have games, systems, and accessories, from the classic 8- and 16-bit systems all the way to the latest and greatest of the next-generation. Sports games, action games, role-playing games, games that make you think and games that make you move, each with their own niche in a healthcare setting to ensure each child has the best time they can during their hospital stay.
What We Need
In a word? Money. Though many generous gamers and companies have kept us well-stocked with games and systems to supply our hospitals with, we are severely lacking in financial donations. Though we try to run on what aid we can get without begging too much, the size and needs of the Foundation's mission is now more than our current model can financially bear, which is why we're now turning to crowdsourcing. Our hospital network covers cities as far away as Honolulu and Halifax, from Anchorage to Ashton-under-Lyne, and shipments of games and systems like the one below can cost hundreds of dollars a month, even using the slowest, cheapest transport method!
Where Your Money's Going
The Foundation prides itself on having a low overhead, foregoing any sort of corporate bells and whistles in favor of helping as many children as we possibly can each year. So in an effort to be transparent, here is a cost breakdown of everything we need to keep going in 2016.
$7,800 (650/mo. x 12 months) - One year of rent and utilities. The bare minimum to keep the lights on.
$500 - One year of minimum mandatory insurance for the above.
$4,800 (400/mo. x 12 months) - A year's worth of shipping costs, averaged out.
$2,800 - Yearly fees and expenses (Website maintenance, state/local fees/taxes, etc.)
In Conclusion
At Get-Well Gamers we've been reluctant to ask for money directly and understand that in today's economy it's definitely easier to donate a five-year-old game system system than part of a five-day-old paycheck, but there's no other way available to us at this point. Our grant applications go unanswered, our direct funding efforts haven't produced sustainable results, and our eBay store is only slightly slowing the burn of capital. We need this funding to continue our program that Child Life experts across North America call "Desperately needed" and "The best program for our patients." Please help us help children in hospitals around the world.
Thank you.
--Ryan Patrick Sharpe
President, The Get-Well Gamers Foundation
"Giving Kids A Power-Up!"
Organizer
Ryan Sharpe
Organizer
Huntington Beach, CA