Tonight we attended the third annual Child's Play Charity Auction Dinner. We've been attending each year (2004, 2005), but this was the most personal and breathtaking event yet.First off, we never leave without doing some good - which means winning some cool auction items! This year even the silent auction went through the roof, with many items topping $500. We settled for an autographed Forza Motorsport 2 faceplate for the 360 and a collectible Sly Cooper 3 figurine. Total cost: $140 (plus the $250 for dinner). We would have bid much more if I weren't still unemployed.
Inside at the big live auction, things got out of hand fast. I didn't get exact numbers, but the cheapest item went for about $700: the chance to name a character in a future White Wolf game. Jacqui really wanted this one, but let it go when the price started to escalate; little did we know it would be the evening's steal. A mystery box containing an Xbox 360 and tons of games and swag sold for $3,000 - plus another bidder put up $450 if they'd open it up on stage for all to see. A Wii signed by Nintendo Prez Reggie "Regginator" Fils-Amie (plus a DS and various games) sold for more than $2,000. Meanwhile, an unsigned PS3 donated by an anonymous line camper topped out around $1,000.
Another highlight of the evening was when the Red vs. Blue creators went up against a deep-pocketed bidder for the chance to voice a line or two in the upcoming Halo 3 game. Hey, we should have bid for them: Wouldn't it be cool if Grif, Tex and Donut got to say "hey" to Master Chief in the real game?! (Extra $$$ if they sneak in a Puma reference!) The good news is that they finally won the prize for $9,000.
The auction closed with a $10,000 bid for an appearance in a Penny Arcade strip, a prize that went for twice as much last year. But Mike and Jerry had one last trick up their sleeves. They asked people how much they would bid for air - nada - just the charity itself. The number of hands went down as the numbers climbed: $10,000. $20,000. Two hands made it to $40,000. Finally, one hand remained at the end as the audience gasped. PopCap Games took the prize for most selfless bid of the evening: $50,000. Thanks to that donation, we guestimate the charity added more than $100K to its already record-breaking year (raising some $600K before the auction even started).
Now for the personal part. A few weeks ago, our nearly 4-year-old son Xander took a spill and split open his chin - to the bone. We rushed him the Seattle Children's Hospital ER where they promptly took him back and patched him up. Despite the medications and painkillers, Xander was still in quite a bit of pain when he received a couple deep stitches and about five outside ones. 
We were shocked to find they only had one children's book suitable for his age, a torn up Thomas the Tank Engine adventure (I wasn't about to read him The Da Vinci Code!). I must have repeated that same book to him five times in order to distract him from the procedure. At the end, they presented him with a small stuffed baby chick, one of his most prized possessions that was no doubt funded by last year's Child's Play campaign. "I got this for being brave," he announced just the other day.This is why we support Child's Play. Each small contribution makes such a big difference to little people in pain, many with chronic illnesses that are a hundred times worse than what Xander suffered.
Although this year we're also going to load up the car with children's books and donate them directly to the ER.
-=Gamewatcher
