Why would someone steal a Connect Four set from a charity group?

The title is the question running through my mind on the morning and throughout the day today that I originally started writing this (Monday 2017 May 15). I set it aside for a few days because I was on the fence about whether or not this needed to go up as a blog post. Yes, it’s been a week and a half, but I’m still pissed off enough about it that I think it should. Here is the background:

Saturday afternoon I was manning the Extra Life booth at Comicpalooza. Extra Life is one of the charity/non-profit groups I am involved with, we run an annual gaming marathon every fall (late October or early November, this year it is on November 4). It works just like a lot of other similar fundraiser events; players get others to sponsor them (suggested rate $1/hour or $24) and the money goes to the local Children’s Miracle Network hospital (in our case, Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH)). The event is one of the things we do to get the word out about our group and event as there are still a few out there who have not heard about us (and a few others who are getting us mixed up with at least one other similar event that has popped up since).

Anyway, one of the draws to our booth, at least through the time I closed up Saturday, was a Connect Four game set bought for our group (out of TCH funds, I would later learn). I secure everything as best I can before leaving Saturday evening at around 6:45 pm (I had been there since about 12:45 pm and spent the last 2½ hours or so staffing the booth by myself, for reasons I’m not going to go into here as that aren’t really relevant here). So it was to my horror that I saw a message early this morning that the Connect Four set was completely missing. Poof. Vanished without a trace. Thus, raising the question in the title.

I can somewhat get the idea behind ripping off a for-profit company for a small amount, though it wouldn’t make the theft any more morally acceptable in my eyes or any less illegal. But we aren’t a for-profit game company like the ones that were across the row from us; we are a fundraising effort for a non-profit group. This is just like taking the retail value of the game set out of the jar we have for cash donations, and it’s just as morally wrong in addition to being against the law.

On top of this, the Texas Penal Code section on theft has a specific provision in it enhancing the charge for those stealing from a non-profit organization to the next higher class of offense. And rightfully so: stealing from a non-profit is a particularly despicable act in just about any decent society, more so than a typical “garden variety” theft.

If anyone out there happens to know anything about the theft or the whereabouts of our game set, I would appreciate the information and I will make sure it gets to the appropriate people.

The $2,520 question

I don’t have a separate blog for fundraising efforts yet. Maybe I should.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, check out my Extra Life fundraising page. The goal may seem a bit high, but yes, I’m for real. $2,520. That’s 105 people pledging $1/hour for the 24-hour event.

If you’re not familiar with Extra Life, it’s a fundraising effort started in 2008 by Sarcastic Gamer, benefiting pediatric cancer research at Texas Children’s Hospital. The event itself is a 24-hour video gaming marathon. Some of you may not know me that well, but I have been a rather avid video gamer over the years. I’ve sort of taken a break from video gaming, but I’ll just say I’ve been around video games long enough to know up-up-down-down-B-A-B-A-start. (Sadly, I never got enough time in playing Pac-Man to learn the patterns. My mom and grandparents had this strange notion that keeping my grades up in elementary school was more important than blowing my allowance on “those silly video games.”)

Anyway, enough of me waxing nostalgic. This year’s event takes place on 2009 October 17 (through the early morning hours of October 18).

There are two people close to me that are my inspiration to be a part of this fundraiser and other events like it. One is my best friend, the other is a younger cousin. Both were diagnosed with forms of cancer at rather young ages. The cause goes far beyond them, of course; way too many kids get cancer at young ages.

I have no ulterior motives here. This is only about me and my quest to help one great cause. I’m up for a 24-hour video gaming marathon. I hope enough of you out there are up for contributing to my chosen cause.

(Edit: added links to the respective Web sits for Extra Life and Sarcastic Gamer.)