Child’s Play collecting toys for holidays

Spending the holiday season in a hospital is unpleasant, but the charity Child’s Play hopes to make this circumstance more bearable for children with its annual holiday toy drive for children’s hospitals.

Child’s Play is a Seattle-based game-industry charity that works with about 60 partner hospitals worldwide, including Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.

The charity hopes to raise $750,000 (in toys and cash) this year, said Kristen Lindsay, Penny Arcade Inc.’s project manager, in an e-mail.

The organization was created by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of the online comic strip “Penny Arcade.”

In 2007 the charity raised $1.3 million in toys and cash, pushing its total since 2003 to more than $3 million, Lindsay said.

Riley Children’s Hospital has also received $6,250 in donations, said Teresa Harper, administrative assistant for the Cheer Guild of Riley and IU Hospitals.

At Riley, the games are either utilized in unit playrooms or distributed to individual patients.

Those video games can help children with their recovery process, said Melissa Sexton, Riley special events coordinator.

“We use video games to preserve normalcy for patients,” Sexton said. “Video games help with the recovery process. Patients start to feel better and become more active.”
Lindsay agreed, saying video games provide escapism to hospitalized children.

“In some cases, especially with Nintendo Wiis, games are also very therapeutic,” Lindsay said.

The gamer charity has a partnership with Amazon.com, which provides a series of wish lists complete with toys, books and video games that the hospitals request.
The lists also provide video games and game systems suggested by Child’s Play. Donations can be made at www.childsplaycharity.org.

Child’s Play collects donations year-round, specifically cash donations outside of the holiday toy drive. The wish lists stay up year-round but are not actively maintained during the off-season, Lindsay said.

“The hospitals need and use these donations year-round, but having something extra at Christmas can make a difference to families in difficult times,” Lindsay said. “Also, as a non-profit charity, donors are often thinking more about making a difference in their communities during the holidays.”