In the World of Darkness, very bad things happen to good people. Families suffer to preserve their dignity and health in the face of poverty and disaster. Blood is a precious commodity, equal to life; Unfortunately, these facts are just as true once the game is over and the character sheets are folded away.
On the other hand, while the Camarilla is primarily an organization for entertainment and our gaming hobby, we are a membership large enough to make an impact in the darkness. Camarilla conventions have raised thousands of dollars to find the children, the medical equipment, the homes, and even the hope that go missing with every daily headline. It may seem small in the face of great troubles, but as I once heard, "Yours might be the last few dollars they’ve been waiting for."
SERE 2007 will be collecting to benefit three charities: The Atlanta Community Food Banks, LifeSouth, and The American Red Cross.
The Atlanta Food Banks have been a partner of the Atlanta Camarilla domain for several years, and depend on the donations from the community to offer a table for those families in lean times. They receive most of their donations during the winter, when humanity recalls such figures as the Little Match Girl, but the pantry is painfully thin in spring. For them, we present not only an open food drive but also a new charity event
Food Raffle - An excellent prize will be reserved away from any auction bidding as prizes for the Food Raffle. Tickets cannot be purchased, but will be traded at a rate of one raffle ticket per food item donated. It may seem silly to fit a canned good or bag of rice into your luggage, but it will only take up as much room as one shirt and qualify you for an item that you don’t have to spend hundreds on in an auction.
LifeSouth is a system of non-profit, volunteer blood centers that provides blood components and services to more than 110 medical facilities in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. They will be bringing out a blood mobile on Friday from 11am-5pm.
Blood Mobile - We are currently accepting blood donors through pre-registration and on site, and LifeSouth recommends reading their and the Responsibilities of a Blood Donor. For additional information please see the LifeSouth Frequently Asked Questions. For a note of comedy, check out the .MP3 of Foxworthy's Take on Donating.
If you are unable to donate blood for any reason, there are several opportunities to assist, either through donation of juice and cookies, or by assisting LifeSouth staff with recovering donors.
The American Red Cross is our primary charity and was chosen for its importance to the Southeast as a whole. They teach first aid, CPR, and crime prevention. They provide shelter, food, and health services to victims of fire and flood and they spent over 2 billion dollars, going into debt, to respond to Alabama, Mississippi, the Gulf Coast, and Florida when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma came. At this year's SERE we will collect funds for the Red Cross through
IC and OOC Item Auction - This convention classic remains the highlight of SERE’s Charity efforts, with a twist. All items will be available for Silent Bidding and viewing IN THE Vendor's Room before the main auction on Saturday and the lead silent bid will act as opening bid for the item, if it has at least three bids to it. If you want it, if you need it, if you 'got to got to HAVE it', then come to the main Auction and fight your fellow Cammie for it. But beware - our auctioneer, US NST Jon Herrmann, has been known to bark and bite. Click here to register your Donations now!
Jail and Bail and Bounty - The sheriff is back in business, and woe to the 'criminal' found outside the safety of an ST and their safe (Ha!) venue game. Still, we hear tell that a well placed bribe could go a long way towards quick freedom. On the other side, a small fee and a photo can have a criminal’s Wanted poster and details of the crime hanging for all the world to see. If you are a hunting sort of fella (or a lady of dangerous intent) then we offer a Bounty Hunter job to any willing party, with a prize to be awarded to the Top Hunter at the Closing Ceremony.
The Prayer List - Need to talk about that tasty diablerie that NO ONE knows you did? Feel bad for that poor idiot that drew the Ace three times in a row? Or just to request a prayer for the fool that shot Aspasia in the leg (poor dear) - Donate a dollar and write it up there! It’s as anonymous as you make it, and quite the record of convention events for the rest of us.
Buy the Moon - This charity is a pre-SERE event. It will last for the month of April prior to SERE and donations will be accepted online or at Atlanta events to influence what phase of the moon will shine in the sky at the Forsaken venue. If you want your auspice to take all the cookies at the event, then give a little towards buying a certain phase beforehand.
| Buying the Moon (Final Total: $355) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| New Moon | (36%) | $128.00 | |
| Gibbous Moon | (1%) | $2.00 | |
| Half Moon | (39%) | $140.00 | |
| Crescent Moon | (23%) | $80.00 | |
| Full Moon | (1%) | $5.00 | |
| These are the final results. Thank you for your generosity! | |||
Mr. SouthEast: Change the Vote - As the featured social event of Saturday evening, SERE 2007 brings you the Mr. Southeast Camarilla Pageant, hosted by Princess Magnolia (Mickey Sanford) and emceed by our own Scarlett Mo'Haira (Tony Gowell). Each domain and independent chapter in the Southeast region is invited to send a representative. These contestants will work until close of the Requiem game Saturday evening to earn donations from their fellow gamers to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The top five fundraisers will then go on stage to celebrate their hard work in genuine mock-pageant style with their convention audience. In the end, one contestant will be named Mr. Southeast Camarilla 2007 and a donation of $100 will be made to the charity organization of their choice.
We have high hopes that this event will combine the friendships and fun we have come to know in the Camarilla with an eye towards the good we can do for the world around us.
It’s a lot to take in, and we hope you will try out these new charity options as well as the old ones. In the end, I know we accomplish more than the Red Cross expects of us - probably even more than you expect of yourselves. We will show them that 'gamers' do not play around in the face of real need, and that, though we play in a World of Darkness, we refuse to live in one.
Have a great April. I can’t wait to see you all and what we can do together.
Abby Peterson