Roll for Wishes: April Stallings of Make-A-Wish International on Merging Gaming and Philanthropy

Speaker 1: 1:05

Joining legends, loot and lore. Today is April Stallings from Make-A-Wish International, and we're going to talk about the fantastic program that they are going to be running I think through the correct me if I'm wrong through the month of October. Correct Correct Called Roll 4 Wishes. So April has been in non-profit work for I'll let her give her own background but she's been a non-profit for about 20, 20 plus years, has been a lifelong gamer and has now kind of combined those two passions into one here. So, april, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for thank you for being here today.

Speaker 2: 1:54

Oh, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to talk about all things Make-A-Wish International and Roll 4 Wishes.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Wonderful. I can't wait. So give us a little bit of your background and tell us about, tell us about kind of how you got to where you are today and talk a little also a little bit about Roll 4 Wishes.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Oh sure, yeah, absolutely. So my background oh gosh, yeah. So, like you had said, I have been a non-profit for over 20 years, started right out of university very kind of winding road and journey and right now I am very happily working with and for Make-A-Wish International, which is the global branch of Make-A-Wish, so we're responsible for wish granting around the world. So, yeah, but I've done bird conservation and habitat preservation, I've done at risk youth homelessness work and you know, now I am luckily for the past gosh, six years combined. I've worked for Make-A-Wish Canada and Make-A-Wish International, creating the magic of wishes around the world.

Speaker 1: 3:06

That's absolutely fantastic. So dive a little deeper, if you would. Into for those that may not be familiar with what Make-A-Wish is. I think most people are, but kind of give you know they may have a limited view as to what Make-A-Wish does, so maybe you can kind of just expand on that and tell what all the things that Make-A-Wish is involved with.

Speaker 2: 3:27

Yeah, I mean, I think most people in general are aware of what Make-A-Wish does, which is grant wishes to children who are living with critical illnesses around the world. But I think there's a bit of a not a misunderstanding, but I think there's a bit of lack of knowledge about what a wish does for a child and how it works. So, if it's okay, I'll talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 3:46

Yeah, so Make-A-Wish International we're basically responsible for all the wish granting outside of America, and then Make-A-Wish America is responsible for the wish granting within America. And a lot of people think, you know that a wish is just, you know, kind of this one day where we swing by and we give a child something or whatever. But that's not actually how a wish is structured or planned or how it works. Even so, what we do is we design what we call the wish journey, which sort of complements a child's physical medical treatment right. So we design it so that at their low moments they get these things we call wish boosts that really help to help them rally mentally and physically, you know, and the journey is just kind of an ongoing thing that culminates in the wish right. And then you know there's also what we call the wish effect, which is sort of the long-term mental and physical health benefits that a wish helps generate and continues on even after the day of the wish. So it really is kind of a process and a, you know, a reconnection to their childhood that we offer a child a real mental health support that they get while in hospital, out of hospital, whatever their situation is. So yeah, that's what we do and I'm pretty proud of it. We granted 17,000 wishes last year at Make-A-Wish International and we're on track to grant close to 20,000 this year, so very excited.

Speaker 1: 5:03

That's absolutely fantastic. I had again. I'm aware of Make-A-Wish and what kind of what Make-A-Wish does, but I didn't realize the reach that it had. That's a tremendous amount of wishes. Now, how many countries does Make-A-Wish International operate in globally?

Speaker 2: 5:28

Yeah, absolutely so. We can be found in 40 countries globally, and some of our countries do sort of double geographic reach, so we actually grant wishes in over 50 countries, depending on where you are. And then, of course, make-a-wish America has all 50 states, which sometime within each state, can be multiple offices granting wishes depending on the need and the density of the population and all that good stuff. So, yeah, we do really really good work and we help as many children as possible. But even with that global reach, we know that there are children all over the world that we're still not reaching. So that's always the goal that we're striving towards is to grant the wish of every eligible child, no matter where they live in the world.

Speaker 1: 6:11

That's absolutely fantastic. It's such a tremendous… organization and ability to grant the wishes for children, because it's got to be a difficult situation for the child and to be able just to kind of give them that kind of big gift is just an amazing benefit. Like you said, there's tremendous benefits beyond just the initial gift giving itself, so that's absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 2: 6:49

Absolutely. I mean, one thing we know is that childhood illness will absolutely destroy childhood and it's our job to restore that and give that back. That's how we see it and you know the benefits of that to the child, to their family, to their community is something that we are super proud of and I tell you it's very much a core mission and purpose in my life.

Speaker 1: 7:15

That's wonderful. So you describe yourself as a lifelong gamer. So we've talked a little bit about your professional career. So talk to us a little bit about your background as a lifelong gamer. I know what you've told me in your bio and things like that. You know I don't want to. I'll let you go into it. But tell us a little bit about your background so we can tie all these loose ends together and figure out how Make-A-Wish came up with Roll for Wishes and how it all ties together. So tell us your background story as a gamer.

Speaker 2: 7:58

I'm going to date myself a little bit with this story, but that's okay. So when I was a kid, my dad owned one of the. My dad was kind of a chronic entrepreneur, you know, he was always starting something new. It's definitely had its ups and downs, but this was definitely one of the ups.

Speaker 1: 8:15

So, my dad, there's a lot of upside for you, probably for you, right.

Speaker 2: 8:20

So my dad had the first coin operated arcade in our town, our small town, you know, and this was this was during the time when cabinets were first coming out. You know, and, and you know, when I when I say cabinets, I mean, like the games that he had on the floor were things like pole position, you know, with the pedals and the shift and this pattern, yeah and yeah, and you know kind of the the first generation of cabinet machines, arcade machines, and so you know it was called Wizard World, that was the name of it, and at night time yeah, yeah, it was good stuff. And at nighttime, when he would be doing the books or whatever, he would turn the machines to free play for us. You know, he'd just go around and hit a few switches and my two sisters and I would just like go to town, right, I mean, we had, like you know, constant access to these machines, you know, without, without having to feed a quarters all the time.

Speaker 1: 9:10

So that's my dream.

Speaker 2: 9:12

Yeah, I know, I know it was pretty good. And then, of course, you know, as as home consoles became more and more popular and everything like you know I'm still playing like to this day it's, you know, it's something that my my child and I bonded over when he was younger and even now, and it really is, you know, kind of a hobby that left me disconnect, you know, from the world and then from a social setting. You know I very much enjoy board game nights with friends and family and things like that. So I think games are amazingly important to people and I think for our wish children, they are especially important. You know a lot of them used gaming to get through the pandemic and even now they use, you know, online gaming to stay connected socially when they're having to isolate because of compromised immune systems or whatever. It's such a lifeline for so many people and I just I love that I get to work in the space every day.

Speaker 1: 10:06

That's absolutely that. That's great. You know, I didn't. Yeah, you know, I think about how, how, how much gaming has grown and become an online platform, with the discord and Twitch and things like that. I mean it really. It really has become an online community. I mean, I remember like the, like the early days of of like networked computer games and things like that, but land parties yeah. Yes, Exactly, I'm just saying that in my language. Yes, so for me it's this question. So, so, do you have any? Do you have any favorite games currently any board games, video games, tabletop, what, what, what, what are you? Is there anything you're currently playing?

Speaker 2: 10:51

Yeah, absolutely my favorite, probably series of all time would be the horizon series with Aloy as the main protagonist. I just the storytelling and the world building in that one blows my mind mechanical, mechanical dinosaurs, mechanical animal like it's just amazing to me. And she's such a cool protagonist to play. Love that series. If we're talking computer games and you know, for a cozy gaming kind of perspective, like kind of I have to confess I don't do online gaming Like to me it's about this connecting and not having to talk to anybody, so that's what I use it for. So my cozy gaming comfort game right now is Disney Dreamlight Valley. Like I play that a lot right now too. So, yeah, that's, that's kind of my dream.

Speaker 1: 11:36

What platform is that on?

Speaker 2: 11:38

It's on all the platforms You'll find it.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Oh, is it really yeah?

Speaker 2: 11:42

Oh gosh, I think it's GameStop that does it and it's really really well done and I mean it's not for everybody, but it's a bit of like you know it's cozy gaming, it's no pressure kind of games that's great yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:54

So yeah, sometimes we just we just need that decompression and just kind of mind mindless gaming. That that can be, that can be a lot of fun. Yeah, exactly Like I. I mean, as you know, I'm a big D&D guy, so I love D&D. I've gotten into Baldur's Gate 3 now, so so that's kind of my it's incredible, it's just absolutely amazing. But so okay, so let's talk about. So there's your background as a gamer, your non-profit work, so tell us the inspiration behind this, or tell us what role for wishes is and talk a little bit about the inspiration behind it and how that whole program came into existence.

Speaker 2: 12:43

Yeah, absolutely. So I guess I'll talk a little bit about my role at Make-A-Wish International, which I don't think I've really verified for your listeners at all. They have no idea who I am there, but kind of what my responsibility is. One of the things that happened during the pandemic was we realized that we relied far too much on in-person fundraising events right Gallows and you know, charity walks and charity runs and things like that. And my role was kind of created to offer a little bit more of fundraising resiliency around the world in the space of gaming and live streaming and charity streaming, right. So I was kind of brought on board at Make-A-Wish International to run events like Role for Wishes, but also to teach our affiliates and to help them and support them as they learn how to navigate the space and be part of it. So yeah, so that's kind of what I do, which is super fun, like I love it, it's great and every day is different and all of that good stuff. So Role for Wishes you know, one of the things that I became aware of very early on when I started fundraising in this space was how active the tabletop gaming world is in the Discord community and on Twitch and YouTube and platforms like that, and then also, of course, in real life. You know like it's such a social thing and also how incredibly giving they are too and how incredibly connected they feel to our mission, which has been really, really cool to see. I mean, we don't grant a lot of D&D wishes. We've done a few where I want to go on my favorite podcast and things like that, but can't name any names. But yeah, and you know, it just kind of, it started with a small event that we had, gosh, I don't know, four or five years ago, when I was still working for Make-A-Wish Canada, and now you know, I was like we need to capture this globally. So last year was a test event for us and it did really well. It, you know it, raised around $10,000, which, for the first year of any kind of live event, I'm very excited about. But it was mainly, you know, it was very like geographically kind of focused and things like that. And now I'm really interested in this year getting the word out, so doing things like coming on your podcast and talking about it yes. But also letting people you know geographically, getting more countries, more affiliates involved, and that is something that is definitely looks like it's shaping up to happen this year, so I'm very excited about that.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Wonderful. So so what is? So tell us what? That's great, that's a great background. You know it's very exciting. So so tell us what role for wishes is? Yeah, absolutely. And and let's, let's talk a little bit about that. And so so it's kind of been in kind of the gestation phase for a few years, and last year was the first year kicked off. So so what, what is it really? And and let's talk about how people can get involved in it this year.

Speaker 2: 15:37

So what it really is is it's just kind of a ready made way for the tabletop gaming community to engage and participate in helping to fundraise for wishes. So it's pretty straightforward and it's pretty accessible, I think. I hope in that, no matter what their preferred platform is whether we're talking the board game cafe, whether we're talking, you know, a discord server where games are role played out there, or again online, or a live stream that they can download, kind of our guidelines, our toolkit, everything like that and they can just flat out go forward in October. Right, they can do whatever they want. It doesn't have to be D&D, it can be really any. I mean, it can be anything. Really We've got a lot of different campaigns with a lot of different systems and sort of world building happening, so really it's just an organized moment for them to celebrate and be part of something and help grant wishes and feel like they're, you know, connecting with an even larger community than the one they already, you know, play with and exist within. It's really a chance for them to shine. At least, that's my hope, is that they feel like they're shining and and doing something really good for kids who deserve and need it and are likely to be part of their community, like these kids are likely to be. You know, their, their peers and their, you know their fans and the people who watch and listen to them and, and you know, maybe one day even play with them. So, yeah, I mean that that's kind of the idea. So it's a month on campaign. The name is super fun because, you know, instead of roll for charisma or roll for, you know, initiative or whatever we're rolling for, we really want you to roll for wishes during the month of October. You know October is a fun month, you know, with Halloween and you know kind of that fall, you know vibe that's starting to happen for everybody. Hopefully, knock on wood. I think we're all a little tired of summer at this point, but yeah, it's just, it's kind of, you know, our event saying hey guys, we know you're out there, we know you're good, you know loving people who want to do good things in the world and opening the door for them to do it for someone that they trust you know. I think the fact that we're so trusted around the world will hopefully make people feel like they are trusting their, their dollars and their donations and their time with the right people.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Wonderful. I think it's. I'm super excited. You know we are we, as a podcaster, getting involved. Thank you, I'm thinking I'm really excited because I think we're. I'm in the process of building a campaign that we might, we might try to test and play for for this. So we'll see. We're going to, we're going to come up with something for for the month of October, but, yeah, we're definitely helping to raise funds for anybody else out there who wants to get involved and raise funds. So tell us about so. So, how, what? What makes them? This was, this was the one question I have what makes them so unique and kind of as a what makes them a unique and kind of powerful tool for fundraising purposes?

Speaker 2: 18:42

You mean D&D players or tabletop gamers?

Speaker 1: 18:45

Yeah, tabletop gamers.

Speaker 2: 18:48

I think there is a kind of fundamental aligning of values and ideals when it comes to tabletop gaming and wishes. Right, because wishes are all about a child's creativity. Right, we tell them the sky's the limit. You know, let's think big, let's take a deep dive into your limitless imagination and, you know, we're going to use that to overcome this really horrible thing that has happened to you and that your family and you were going through. Right, it's all about stepping outside of the reality that they are living in and really engaging with their imagination and their dreams. And if there is something that I have discovered that tabletop gaming is absolutely about, it is unlimited imagination and really just kind of like being this other person, outside of your own reality, that you can really put on the skin. That sounds gross, but you can really put on this persona and you can become this person. And I think there is sort of a fundamental aligning of what both of these things are about. And, like I said, I mean I think sort of tabletop gamers in general are some of the kindest, most generous, most welcoming and accepting people. Like, I know there's some toxicity out there, but I found that it has with everything. Yeah with everything right, but it's not I mean gosh, it's not like we're sitting in a call of duty lobby or something like that right, like I mean there's, you know, it's such a wholesome welcoming community and I was like those are people I want to know and those are people I want to talk to about what we do. And it was pretty cool that I just kind of got to like take the idea and create it. Like I love that about Make-O-Wish International is that like innovate, innovate, innovate, connect with people, find the audience that you think is going to be passionate about what we do, and I think that's, I think that's who I think that I think I found, I think I found the right people so far for this. Like I think it's good stuff.

Speaker 1: 20:55

Wonderful. I'm super excited to be a part of it. And so you're absolutely right, I see a lot of correlation between what Make-O-Wish does and kind of what D&D is. You know, it's really. It was really interesting if you get a chance to the episode that actually just went live today we spoke with a psychologist, doctor and an educator about the psychological benefits that playing D&D has, like using D&D in therapy and using D&D in education to teach skills and things like that. And so I think I think there's probably a lot of therapeutic benefit for the children who are dealing with these. You know, severe diseases and things like that that, like you said, you can kind of put on a persona and it's not you. You know you can be the big paladin, the big strong paladin, and defeat enemies, you know, even if you're sitting in a hospital bed. So I think it's like so I think there's a lot of tremendous benefit that playing those types of games that can really have for those children. So I think it's a fantastic combination of, like you said, how welcoming and the D&D and tabletop role playing community is and an organization like Make-O-Wish. That's really tremendous. I'm super excited. I'm really trying to rack my brain to figure out what we're going to do, but either way we're still going to fundraise because I'm going to keep talking about it over the whole month. It's just such a tremendous program. I'm a big fan of the Make-O-Wish organization they do so many good things because I'm also a big Disney nerd so I know there's always kids and families going to Disney World, so it's nice that my D&D side can also help in that aspect.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Awesome. No, I absolutely love it. I'm excited to see what you're our first podcasties participating in the event too. I didn't mention that You're our first podcast fundraising group, so I'm excited to see how it will work in this medium. It's going to be cool, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:43

It's just any awareness that we can bring to Make-O-Wish and what they're doing is just tremendously exciting for me. So let's talk about that. So you know, we we're involved with fundraising for Roll4Wishes. How can individuals, how can role playing communities get involved in the campaigns or how can they sign up? What are ways that they can fundraise? Let's talk about that. How do people get involved in this and help out?

Speaker 2: 24:18

Absolutely. I'll give you the link to the registration page to put in the show notes, of course, but people just can't wait for that. They can go to worldwishorg, which is Make a Wish International's main website, and then under the Get Involved dropdown, you'll see charity fundraising livestream charity fundraising and you can go to that and it's all there. The tool kit's there, the registration is there and it'll take you to a donation portal where you'll get your own individual link that you can use to fundraise so you can track your progress and all that good stuff. And again, you can use it if you're doing real life, if you're doing whatever, just this link will let you send it to friends and family. They can donate directly. You don't have to handle all that troublesome cash that nobody likes to handle anymore. But yeah, and most importantly, you get examples of stories to share, things like that that you can use to really express to people why what you're doing is so important and amazing. So, and then, of course, I'm always available on our Discord server, which will also I'll give you the link for that in the show notes and it's also on our website. You know, there's a great little community there built up around this event, particularly where people are sharing ideas and things like that. I think people are afraid of fundraising, sometimes they're afraid to ask. So, yeah, we've created a fun sort of suggestion sheet about ways to fundraise and encourage donations, things like hindering the campaign helping the campaign, getting to name an NPC after yourself or a town. There's all sorts of ways to encourage donations. Like creativity is, you're creative, you're doing a tabletop game, so obviously you're a creative person. So just tap into that and come up with ways to encourage donations and then it doesn't feel like such a chore for some people. Like it doesn't feel like such a scary thing to ask for donations. It's really just believing in what we do and the cause that you're asking for and it's also, you know, making it fun for people to give and to interact with you and be part of things.

Speaker 1: 26:30

Wonderful. So what were some of the things that they did last year for Roll for Wishes? What were? Was it mainly like Twitch streams, or what did they do last year to fundraise?

Speaker 2: 26:42

Oh gosh, it was probably half and half, I would say. So the only thing we were missing last year was we didn't. I mean, some of our live stream events were real life events. I would love to see someone just play their regular campaign and, like, ask friends and family and do like you know, like this is just what we normally do. We're not. We're not broadcasting or anything I would love to. I would love to make it more accessible to people who just are playing their game in person the way they normally do. So didn't have a lot of that last year, Tried to make that more accessible this year and emphasize it a little more. But last year, yeah, we had a great group called Legends of Laga Mansi and they did, they did a. We were on site at a board game cafe I sat in. It was my first ever D&D you know campaign that I sat in on. Thank goodness they were all former theater kids because they definitely carried me throughout it. But you know, they did live stream content, creating fundraising. We had some other wonderful people doing that as well, and then we also had a lot of discord activity as well. So on the discord, on the discord channels, what they did was they if you donated, you got a chance to win a prize. If you donated, you got a special role in the server. I think one of them, if you donated your like, reaction, gift or emoji or whatever got to become one of the official ones for the server. You know things like that, right?

Speaker 1: 28:04

Oh cool.

Speaker 2: 28:05

Yeah, so they made it super fun that way, that's great. Yeah, and then the live stream. Of course it was things like you know, everybody gets a magical item if you donate. You know X number of dollars and things like that. So it was really about interacting and being part of the campaign, even if you were a viewer at home, right? So I am so excited, like I said, to see how a podcast plays out in this you know kind of forum and what you guys do. But yeah, it's. I mean, the big thing is making it interactive, like making your donors feel like they are part of the event and making it fun for them too.

Speaker 1: 28:42

That's great. That gives me some ideas, cause, like I said, I'm currently working on a homebrew campaign and I need ideas for some NPCs and things like that, so maybe I'll try to do some fundraising and get people to name an NPC or create an NPC in my world if they donate to Roll for Wishes.

Speaker 2: 29:08

I will say, if people don't know where to start exactly, we do have some homebrew campaigns that were created last year that we've put in the toolkit as inspiration, like obviously you don't have to follow them to the letter, but they were really about granting the wishes of children in this. You know star-shaped magical realm, you know, and you know it was I think it's three modules that we have in there and they were all very cool and they were all about granting wishes. So it was pretty fun and they're there as inspiration. If anybody doesn't know where to start or what to think or how to do this, that's great.

Speaker 1: 29:43

It's like you said, and you've got the Discord server, so there's some great conversation happening there on how you can get involved, how you can where to begin. It's just there's so many. I think that's the thing. There's so many ways that you can contribute. I mean, as a content creator, you know you can, like I said, do a live stream, do whatever, but that's great that you've got some jumping off points for people who may not know where to start Because, like you said, this may be everybody's. You know a lot of people's first attempt at fundraising. So there's some great resources that you have to help that process along, which is wonderful.

Speaker 2: 30:32

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the other things that people might be a little concerned about that I just want to let people know is you know we're not asking you to change who your campaign is or how you normally play or anything like that. If you guys get a little like rowdy and fun, like we're not there to police that or try to change that.

Speaker 1: 30:52

That's not the idea, so please don't worry about that.

Speaker 2: 30:55

We're not going to be, like, you know, the D&D hall monitors or the TTRPG hall monitors although that'd be a great MPC. But I mean, yeah, no, we're not there to do that, we're not there to change how you would normally run things, so please don't even, don't even worry about that. Okay, like that's not a thing.

Speaker 1: 31:14

So now? So so last year you said you, you raised about what? $10,000. Mm, hmm, and so what's the what's, what's your goal, what's your hope for for for this year's campaign project?

Speaker 2: 31:29

Our goal is to have 20 campaigns running. Right Is to have 20,. You know 20 podcasts 20,. You know real life events 20 live streams. Whatever signed up for the event. You know, last year I think we had five. So, we're really just looking at kind of like incremental growth, you know, slowly getting the word out, kind of thing, and I think for year two that's a pretty reasonable goal. And you know we're hoping to raise around 50,000 US dollars for this event this year. And how that will work is, once people register, they can choose what country they want to grant a wish in and where they want their donation dollars to go to. So that, I think, is kind of one of the really cool things about Make-A-Wish is that we are global and no matter where you are in the world, you can say this is where I want my money to go to. So you know, don't, don't worry that you're going to be part of a campaign that's not going to make any impact in your own local home, because that's not the idea. The idea is to to put those dollars where you are. So that's kind of the goal for this year, you know. I would say you know, don't, don't feel like you have to go in there and set a really, really high goal to make a difference. You know, don't feel like you have to go in there and say I'm going to raise $10,000. You don't have to do that. We want people to set realistic goals that they will feel good when they achieve. And if you hit your goal, great, then you can, you can increase it, you can try for a new goal. You know, I mean, it's not like, it's not like you have to stop once you, you know, once you hit your $100 goal or whatever. But we really want people to not feel pressured to like, you know, feel like they have to raise, you know, this amazing amount of money to make an impact, because that's not how this forum, this medium, works. This is all about the collective community effort is how this type of fundraising works. Right, it's really about kind of crowdfunding, a wish, essentially. So, you know, please, you know, if any of you are considering doing this, please don't feel like you have to. You know, come up with something that's scary as a goal. We want you to do something that you feel comfortable with and that you feel you can achieve.

Speaker 1: 33:32

That's great there are. So we do have this this is a great thing to point out to going going back to you know how many, how many countries that that this can support, because we we do have quite a few international listeners to the podcast, so that's great to know that they can choose. You know what, what country their, their funds go to, so, whether, whether it's their home country or or elsewhere, no, no, that's all right, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 33:59

No, I was going to say the listeners can't really choose like I want my. But what we do is, when it's a listener and they donate, we get their country of origin as part of the information. You know, because, because they can donate through credit card or PayPal, we get their country of origin and then we take that and that's where we direct the funds. So, yeah, so that's, that's perfect. And then, of course, the people who are actually fundraising, like yourself, can say I want my funds to go either international, wherever you need it the most, or I wanted to go to the specific country.

Speaker 1: 34:28

Excellent, that's great. Yeah, don't, don't mind these cats behind me, they're just so entertaining.

Speaker 2: 34:33

I love it, and if you, were my dog snoring on my side of things if you can hear me.

Speaker 1: 34:38

I'm so sorry to everybody. This is they're either. They're either running around like crazy or out cold asleep. They're they just. They just operate on. No, there's no happy medium. Not, not at all Not at all. Yes, I, I love them to death. What, what, what? So in in preparation, because this is we're we're in kind of mid, mid September, recording this, but this will probably go out right at the beginning of October. This will, this will be live right at the beginning of October. So so, what, what kind of what kind of what kind of things should we expect for for the month of October from make a wish in, in supporting this, like what's, what's, what's, what's coming down?

Speaker 2: 35:30

okay, yeah, importantly, will send you a t shirt if you sign up. You know is part of our kind of marketing for it. We want to make sure that as many people as possible, or representing the, make a wish colors during their Everything. So if you get signed up in time which I would say probably in the next week or so, you'd want to commit and do that will send you some codes to your, to your campaign team, so you can redeem those and get yourself some pretty cool swag. So then you can, you know, look official and branded and all that good stuff. There is a toolkit. There's a toolkit that exists that has, you know, logos and overlays if you're doing stuff online. It has donation alerts if you're doing stuff online and then, of course, you know it has those homebrew modules that you can use as inspiration. That has wish stories you know things like that. So we've really tried to make this as easy as possible for you. It's got tip sheet on how to fundraise. You know talking points or how to talk about make a wish and what we do, some video links. You know all sorts of cool stuff there. And then, of course, you know, what we are asking is, once people registered, that they send us their you know their Advertisement, their artwork, their groups, headshots, whatever you know. However, you promote yourself if you're doing this in a semi serious kind of way, and we'll be promoting it on our social media channels and everything throughout the month, along with your donation link. So we really are trying to be as helpful and supportive as possible and really just kind of. You know, we're gonna do like a quick little press release out to some of the tabletop game. You know magazines and stuff like that. So, yeah, we're really trying to. Like I said, this is all about Gorg this year. This is all about getting the word out. I really do think one day this can be a huge powerhouse fundraising event for us, because I believe in this community.

Speaker 1: 37:14

That's great. So you know, if anybody listening has is is Not necessarily just a dnd player, but maybe, maybe you've got your dnd group as well, that that you want to to join by by all means. Again, we'll have all the links in the show notes for if you want to donate, if you want to participate, well, we'll have all that for you. So it's just such a such a fantastic cause trying to get up to twenty, twenty groups and raise fifty thousand dollars. So that's that's a great goal. I think that's that's very, very doable, I think right.

Speaker 2: 37:54

I think so, I hope so.

Speaker 1: 37:58

So let me ask this question so so, so to put those dollars into kind of real world action what? What does that translate to as far as granting wishes are for four children like what, how far does that thousand dollars go?

Speaker 2: 38:16

That is a question that we always struggle with because we are global right. So right yeah, inflation and the valuation of dollars and things like that. It's hard to say what the average cost of a wishes, right. But I can tell you like in India you know, the average cost of a wishes around two hundred and fifty, three hundred fifty dollars, right. So you know, if you, if you apply that ten thousand to that scale, you know that's a lot of wishes. Right but then when you get to some of the more like you know, economically I guess, developed parts of the world, without sounding like India isn't doing amazing things, I mean, they just landed a thing, a thing on the dark side of the moon which was incredible, right. So, without sounding like it, without sounding like you know, trying to undervalue the achievements in the economy of India, but if you go to, like, a country like, let's say, canada, right, where you know things can be more expensive and wishes can be a little more tied into you know, sort of the, the brands and things like that, right, like a shopping wish or whatever. So Right the average cost of a wish there can be, you know, thousands of dollars. So it just depends. I know I'm not answering this very straight. I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1: 39:27

No, no, it's a very good point.

Speaker 2: 39:29

Yeah, but if people are interested in what their country, what what a wish looks like in their country, what the average cost is, I would encourage them to Google, make a wish and then put the name of your country in there. And each one of our affiliates has a website that you can look at and you know they kind of report there those sorts of numbers and things on there. So it's really it's a really hard thing to quantify at a global level, but at the actual country and affiliate level they can definitely see what that looks like.

Speaker 1: 39:55

That's great and there, but I guess, to put it basically, it'll grant quite a few wishes across.

Speaker 2: 40:03

Yes.

Speaker 1: 40:05

Absolutely, it'll make a. You know that. It's, you know in, and again, depending on the country, fifty thousand dollars could be a. Could seem like a lot or a little, but it will. It will have a tremendous impact on on the lives of children globally and that's the. That, that's that's what I, what I think is one of the great things about this, this campaign. That's that's wonderful.

Speaker 2: 40:31

I did. Thanks for doing it. Thanks for having me on and talking about this. I'm so excited about it.

Speaker 1: 40:35

So am I. I'm thrilled, I'm, yeah, it's, I think I think, like I said, I can't say enough how, what, a what a tremendous program I think this is. Is there anything else that people should know about, about role for wishes or or make a wish international in in general? Because, again, so there, there's, so there's, let's be clear, there, so there's. Make a wish America, so, which is where we're, a good portion of our listeners are, but but make a wish international is the one that is, that is, fundraising for, for role for wishes. So this is what are are there any countries in particular that are in in more need for wishes, or?

Speaker 2: 41:19

Well, I will say we've had a lot of our, a lot of our countries have had some real, have had some rough years from a disaster standpoint and things like that. Obviously, we all remember the earthquake in Turkey earlier this year. Make a wish, make a wish. Turkey did an amazing thing post earthquake where they loaded up a couple of trucks with supplies and wishes for the children living in the affected region and they spent a week going through that region delivering those things to wish children. You know, and of course, our make a wish Greece affiliate. There was huge fires across Greece earlier that. Actually, that actually impacted a couple of wish families who were visiting from other parts of the world. So make a wish Greece did a great job stepping up and taking care of those people and taking care of those wish families. You know a lot of our affiliates, you know, kind of in in Latin America and in sort of southern Europe, southern Asia, are really impacted by inflation right now and sort of the cost of living prices. So grant me wishes is becoming like more and more expensive for them right now. So I think it's really just, you know, fundraise where your heart is, or trust us to, to, to sort of you know, delegate those funds to where they're needed the most. But you know you can pick any of those countries right, whether you are an ex pat who's living somewhere but your heart is still back home, or whatever. I mean that's. That's the beauty of us, is that we, we promise you around the world that we are taking care of your donations, we are taking care of your dollars, we are dotting the eyes, crossing the T's, making an impact, and you can trust us because we've been doing it for 43 years. So I think I think there's a lot of us doing really, really good work, but it's definitely been a challenging year across the board.

Speaker 1: 43:06

That's a good point to make. So so again, so for those who are thinking about starting a group to donate to Make-A-Wish International for Role for Wishes, so the fundraising group themselves can choose the country to which the funds go, absolutely so we, as Legends, luton lore, are doing it to Make-A-Wish International. In general, we haven't specified a country, but if you're a group out there that wants to fund Raise for Make-A-Wish International and again you've got a soft spot for a particular country, you can choose that country and raise funds specifically for children in that country. So there's some great opportunity there. As far as that's concerned, that's wonderful.

Speaker 2: 44:01

Yeah, like I said, I'm pretty proud, I'm not proud.

Speaker 1: 44:06

I'm not drinking it. I'm not drinking it.

Speaker 2: 44:09

This is true, I'm pretty proud of our global reach and how we can help people be part of this global event, but also make a difference at home.

Speaker 1: 44:20

Wonderful, thank you. Thank you so much for being here on the podcast and talking about this. I'm excited. I can tell you're very excited about this. You're very passionate about this program. So is there any parting words for our listeners who are either thinking about maybe donating or thinking about participating?

Speaker 2: 44:45

Yeah, I mean reach out to me, like I am on our Discord server, so you'll find me there, absolutely. So just click on that in the show notes and come find me. If you're not a Discord person, I'll gladly share my email as well for people like here to help here to create and sort of innovate on this. So we welcome you adding your home brews to our library of content and all of that. We want your input, we want you to be part of this. We want you to help it grow year over year. And if this month isn't your month or if October isn't your month to do this, this isn't something that we're just like OK, no, you can't do this at any other point during the year. This is just the month where we feature it and highlight it. So if the timing's not right for you, don't feel like you can't do this another time. We're still here to help, we're still going to be excited about it, we're still going to be rooting for you and cheering you on. So, absolutely, you know, just reach out to me and we can talk through any questions or problems that you have.

Speaker 1: 45:40

Perfect, thank you. Thank you so much Again, april Stallings from Make-A-Wish International. I appreciate you being up early this morning with us and talking. And again, the program is called Roll for Wishes, so you'll see all the links and information in the show notes. Legends, luton and Lore will be doing something in the month of October, so be on the lookout for that. We're also just fundraising in general, so we'll put our fundraising link in the show notes if you want to contribute there. And again, hopefully you have a great month and we'll catch up and follow up at the end of October.

Speaker 2: 46:20

I love that idea. Yeah, let's do that Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 46:23

Great. Thank you again, April. Ok, Bye everybody.

Speaker 2: 46:26

Thanks so much, bye, bye.