The Gaming Gang/Sunshine Acres Children’s Home X-Mas 2011 Auction

As the holiday season cranks into high gear, I think to myself how can Elliott and I help make a real difference in other people’s lives. Granted, this is a topic that should be on our minds all the time but I think as Christmas approaches these thoughts come more to the forefront. Sure, we have fun on the podcast and we do our best to entertain and inform with the show and the website but I don’t think any of that is really a difference maker in the great scheme of things.

I’d been wracking my brain, or at least what’s left of it, to come up with something we could do and a worthy recipient of what it is we were to come up with. Seeing we’re just a couple of working Joes – in a less than stellar economy – it’s not as if we have much disposable income to devote to any particular cause. Add to that the fact that we’re hell bent against soliciting donations in any way, shape, or form in regards to The Gaming Gang led me to only one conclusion. In the end, I decided that auctioning off some games, from our collections, would provide the funds to make a donation to an organization we feel is deserving. Not to say there aren’t a multitude of groups that certainly warrant attention I wanted to go with what some might consider off the beaten path – sort of like our show and site are.

The recipient of our auctions funds will be the Sunshine Acres Children’s Home located in Mesa, AZ. You can find more information regarding the home by following this link.

The video below is only one of the programs Sunshine Acres has in place for the kids under their care:

I believe that Christmas is all about children and feel Sunshine Acres performs miracles with kids who may otherwise be swept under the rug. I’ve personally dealt with folks from Sunshine Acres on many occasions through donations; when my grandfather recently passed away here in the Valley there was no question as to who we were going to donate his house full of items. I’ve seen, firsthand, what Sunshine Acres can do with these kids so they are who we’ve chosen of the recipient of whatever we can put together from this auction.

The auction itself is open to any and every one worldwide! I know that some charity auctions ask people to add items of their own that they’d like to contribute but we’re not asking that. If anyone really wants to get onboard, that’s great, but this isn’t what it’s all about – Elliott and I are more than happy to open up “dibs” on games that have been cared for by ourselves.

Unless otherwise noted, these games have only been played a handful of times for review purposes and are in fantastic shape. Some are from my personal collection of out of print, or still in shrink titles as well. This is going to be a rather short auction as well simply because I’d like to be able to make our donation before Christmas so it only runs through midnight (MST) of December 3rd, 2011.  This isn’t going to be something that we keep writing about or talking about on the show because our visitors already know that this isn’t some kind of “Hey! Look at us and what we’re doing” event…

High bidders will be contacted by myself and have the choice of flat rate shipping or USPS Priority Mail – if the game will fit in one of the boxes – to be added to their total. There are no minimum bids on these games either so if the high bid is a dollar, then that person won the game for a dollar! Well, a dollar plus shipping… Payment is through PayPal only as it’s the easiest to track and process.

I know that The Gaming Gang isn’t the highest profile info and review show (and site) on Board Game Geek – mainly due to the fact that we’re two guys trying to do all the work and self-promotion is pretty far down of our list of things to do – but here’s hoping we can offer at least something from every genre to interest folks.

And, of course, any questions can be forwarded to myself on BGG or or right here at jeffmcaleer@thegaminggang.com.

You can find the auction at right here!