Child's Play, the charity started by the ubergamers at Penny Arcade, is in its third year and has already raised over $200K for sick kids in hospitals in the US and Canada this year alone. In the past few days however they've added a UK hospital (Alder Hey in Liverpool) to the list, and plan to expand to other countries in the future.

OK, I know some of you Grinches out there are probably gnashing your teeth and wailing about RISC OS relevance by now. So here's what I know, and let's see if we can't find something that's relevant to the readership here: the charity was originally set up to combat the negative attitude the media has about people who play computer games - and I know we have loads of those hanging around here. This is the first UK hospital to agree to this - others were contacted but decided not to take part for whatever reason, and there are plans for including other countries like Australia and New Zealand next year - so here's a chance for folks in the RISC OS heartlands to show not only that they care, but also make this test case work to help even more people next year. And finally, if you're reading this you're probably able to afford both a computer and Internet access, so £3.99 for a Viking Warrior vs. Fenrir Wolf Lego set doesn't seem that much of a bind.

So it's the Christmas season, when people traditionally feel more charitable; and while there are many charities out there worthy of your time and attention I'm guessing this one will hit pretty close to home for many of you. All you have to do is make an order from Amazon and the goods get sent directly to the hospital - so easy, most of you probably have done something very similar for yourself in the past few weeks. Sick kids and their families have a pretty rough time in hospital, so here's a chance for the geek community to make a difference, not just for Christmas but in the months ahead too.

Links:
Child's Play
Alder Hey Childrens Hospital wishlist

Source: The Icon Bar