In the spirit of the holidays and the second annual SANTA ACTUAL fundraising campaign to build video game care packages, we took a little different route for our NAUGHTY LIST care package. Generally, Operation Supply Drop was designed to send video games to troops deployed to international combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan…and then, something happened.
The Los Angeles Film School graciously helped to promote Operation Supply Drop’s “8-Bit Salute to Gamers” during their annual Veteran’s Day fundraising event, and my wife Margo and myself traveled to Los Angeles to be a part of the fundraising festivities. While we were there, we learned about Sarah and her three boys. Sarah’s husband, who was also a student at the Film School, suffered serious injuries while in Iraq and never fully recovered from them, dying in March 2012. We heard about this family and the fact that these boys, aged 12, 8 and 4 were trying their best to have their first Christmas without their dad. It also happens these boys have a Playstation 3 and had been sending Santa threatening letters for him to bring them a Wii U for Christmas, so we felt that Operation Supply Drop was in a unique position to help give these boys one heck of an incredible Christmas surprise.
The interesting issue is that we’ve never had to put a care package together for kids, where we have to actually take into consideration that we can’t send along mature rated titles that we would usually send over to soldiers. Fortunately, over the course of the year, people and developers have donated a substantial amount of t-shirts, plushies and other knick-knacks that soldiers might ignore, but kids would go nuts for to find in a stocking over the fireplace, so we actually had a pretty decent sized care package ready to go…with of course, the centerpiece being a deluxe 32 GB Wii U.
Here’s the final inventory for our little care package!
Donations/Purchases:
32 GB Nintendo Wii U Deluxe Bundle
1 x New Super Mario Brothers U
1 x NintendoLand
1 x Bath and Body Works Package (ask Margo, no idea)
1 x Sonic Rush DS (Gameboy DS)
1 x Monster Trucks (Gameboy DS)
1 x The Hobbit (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Tony Hawk Underground (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Star Wars Attack of the Clones (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Pirates of the Carribbean Curse of the Black Pearl (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Rayman: Hoodlum’s Revenge (Gameboy Advance)
1 x A Series of Unfortunate Events (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Star Wars Jedi Power Battles (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Around the World in 80 Days (Gameboy Advance)
1 x Battleship dog tags
1 x The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii)
1 x Ratchet and Clank All 4 One (PS3)
1 x Virtua Tennis 3 (PS3)
1 x Madden 08 (PS3)
1 x Birds of Steel (PS3)
1 x Ghostbusters (PS3)
1 x Sly Cooper Collection (PS3)
Activision/Treyarch:
3 x Call of Duty Black Ops t-shirts
1 x Call of Duty Black Ops fitted hat
1 x Call of Duty Black Ops Controller Faceplate (PS3)
Wizards of the Coast:
3 x Magic the Gathering t-shirts
Adhesive Games:
3 x Hawken t-shirts
THQ:
1 x South Park and the Stick of Truth t-shirt
1 x Darksiders 2 sweatshirt
Valve:
3 x DOTA 2 sweatbands
Reverb Entertainment:
1 x Hop DS
1 x Zumba Fitness Wii
1 x Rock Band Classic Rock Track Pack (PS3)
1 x Rock Band Country Track Pack (PS3)
1 x Jeopardy DS
1 x MX vs ATV Reflex (PS3)
1 x Rango (PS3)
Level 5:
1 x Scribblenauts hat
Popcap:
3 x Plants vs. Zombies Plushies
1 x Plants vs. Zombies Umbrella
RDS Industries:
1 x Nintendo DS XL Hard Case
1 x Nintendo 3DS Hard Case
Gamer Grub:
8 x Pizza Gamer Grub
Capcom:
1 x Street Fighter 4 bandana
1 x Resident Evil 6 toy flashlight
Electronic Arts:
1 x Skate (PS3)
Total Care Package Value (Based on Amazon Pricing, Before Shipping Costs): $1204.42
Okay, so we’re helping out Sarah’s family for Christmas, but we’re sending out another five care packages to military units stationed overseas for the holidays with SANTA ACTUAL 2! We rushed Sarah’s package out the door so the kids could get it for Christmas, but we’re still raising money to fill out the rest of these care packages. If you’d like to help us out with one helping fill one of these care packages, here are four ways you can donate:
1) Use the Chipin link on the front of Front Towards Gamer.com. OR
2) Use the Chipin link on the front page of Operation Supply Drop.org. OR
3) Make a Paypal donation to donations@operationsupplydrop.org.
4) If you don’t want to send cash, you can simply send your used games or gear to the following address to make the next care package:
Operation Supply Drop
9301 Alvyn Lake Circle
Bristow VA, 20136
You know, and even if you can’t donate, just help get the word out on Twitter, Facebook, and other various social media links! You help out and it costs you nothing but a few seconds of your time!
Or, maybe just click this link here:
