This month I started volunteering my time with a local not-for-profit charity called Sandbox Gaming: a local charity in my home province of Newfoundland, Canada made up of a group of wonderful volunteers with the goal to raise money for children’s charities that promote play and development; to build and sustain a gaming community in the province of Newfoundland, Canada as well as to dispel certain negative stereotypes that unfortunately fall upon the video gaming community.

Sandbox Gaming does this by holding events like the now annual Newfoundland Gaming Expo (NGX), an upcoming event next Friday to celebrate the dual release of Pokemon Sun/Moon and the NES-mini, and through various 80-hour streams throughout the year, the next of which is taking place next Month between December 2nd-December 5th. For three days, various volunteers and committee members play games to raise funds for three local children’s charities: Easter Seals, Newfoundland: a charity dedicated to is to engage, inspire, and empower by providing life-changing programs and services for persons with disabilities; The R.E.A.L Program: a group with the mandate to provide recreation and leisure opportunities through the provision of program and financial assistance to as many children and youth who are unable to participate in registered activities due to financial circumstances as possible and the Children’s Wish Foundation: a Canadian charity that helps make the wishes to children with terminal illnesses come true.

To help me to help Sandbox Gaming and in turn, help these three charities, I like other volunteers are pre-fundraising from now up until the end of the month. If you’re unable to do so before then, you can also donate during the 80-hour marathon that you can find out more about at this link. If you don’t have any spare funds to part with, which is understandable given the season, you can still help by sharing the event on social media like Facebook and Twitter and by using #SBG4Kids as well as by hitting either “interested” or “going” to the 80-hour charity stream which you can watch from the comfort from wherever without having to come to visit Newfoundland!

If you wish to pre-donate or also wish to provide other incentives like prizes to give out during the stream, you can reach out to myself on either Facebook, Twitter, or by direct e-mail at blairfarrell1984@gmail.com. Read more about Sandbox Gaming on their homepage; Like them on Facebook and follow the group on Twitter.