Earlier this month the wildfires in California made front page news when they burned the town of Paradise to the ground. Scenes of the devastation
were shown in print, television, and Internet media. In Second Life
about a week ago on Sunday November 11, there was a benefit party at The Golden Tambourine for
Bella Kross Swordthain (bella1 Abbot), of the Bonanza Country Club and
the Captain of Team Bonanza of the Relay for Life. In the Relay group,
people were invited to come over and donate to help her get back on her
feet.
Join us at Golden Tambourine for Bella Abbot
Benefit... Bella lost everything in Paradise CA Fire this week Coral
Sunset (224,208,22) Captain of Team Bonanza - Cancer Survivor - Join
Us as We Take Care Of Our Own!
In group chat,
people talked about how bad the situation for the people was, Sara
Llewellyn (Sarandel Llewellyn) saying "Here's a glimpse into what used
to be Paradise for 27,000 people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJfPjB8_30
. " Sara Llewellyn (Sarandel Llewellyn) told the group about the
firefighters combating the blaze, "Picture this: You're on an airplane.
You look out and see a wildfire below. Your job is to jump out of your
plane into the path of a raging inferno There are no hospitals for a
hundred miles, no roads out of the area, and no water to be had. You
have to put this monster out with just a shovel and a pickaxe. Just
another day in the life of a California Smokejumper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0a-UcqrYFg ."
Dropping
by, I was greeted with a hello, and saw a number from the Relay there,
such as DJ Madonna and Trader Whipladh. "Help us help Bella, donate to
the mushroom tip jar," someone spoke, directing attention to a tip jar
on stage. Chipmunk Zhong, the owner of the Golden Tambourine, encouraged
people to give, "All donations will go to Bella directly. ... She lost
everything in real life, she staying with her sister and mom, her
real-life hubby jojo and the doggie." She would describe a recent
conversation with her, "when I had a chance to talk to her ... she kind
of chuckled amongst her tears. She said, 'at least I don't have to worry
about the skunks under my house anymore.' But deep down she is
devastated." Shawna Love Compton (Shawna LittleBoots) spoke, "Well the
fire took her
home, But with Jo jo being hospital it saved there lives. I am sure God
works in mysterious ways, but then there is other things that happen not
so God. But I know he loves us all all the time."
The
original goal was to try to get a total of 100,000 Linden dollars
donated, Trader Whiplash reminding everyone, "L$100,000 = about $400.
That will help in so many ways. Let's make it happen!" People would talk
about the wildfires in Paradise and other parts of California, "Just
the Paradise fire alone the death toll is 23 people, 20 percent
containment. And that isn't a complete count." "Yeah - they won't know
the full impact until its over." Sara Llewellyn (Sarandel Llewellyn)
talked about another disaster, "I remember watching a live stream last
summer of the eruption of Kilauea - this man allowed a local news team
to set up 24/7 video on his back porch. Could see lava fountains
shooting up some 200 feet.....few days later they were all forced out of
the area...he moved to the mainland ...month later his house/farm was
wiped out by lava flows."
Shawna would request,
"Bella's favorite song when I sang was 'One Day at A Time' by Chirsty
Lane, if you could please play this for her because this is how her life
will be now." Other songs played included "We Take Care Of Our Own" by
Bruce Springsteen, and "I'll Be There For You" by Bon Jovi.
As
time went on, the amount donated grew, "Please did deep in your pockets
and donate to the mushroom tip jar." Finally at 1:35 PM, Chipmunk
announced, "We made 100 thousand Lindens!" "Amazing!!! L$100,000!"
Trader then challenged everyone to reach a new goal, "L$25,000 more
makes $500!" Others were up to the challenge, "Let's make this happen!"
And the donations continued to come in. And at 1:58, two minutes before
the party ended, Trader announced, "WE did it!" There were cheers all
around.
After the party, there would be an announcement in the Relay group
"A
big thank you to everyone for your love and support. I revived the
Lindens raised, and will put them to good use to getting Jojo some toys
and the things that wee need. The love and outpouring from my SL family
and RFL family is amazing. You guys rock! Thank you again. Bella and real-life family.
Another example of the generosity and camaraderie of the people in the Relay and Second Life.
Christmas can be such a fun holiday, some look for reasons to throw a
"Christmas" party in the summer months. So when some people looking to
have a benefit event for the Caledon Oxbridge University, a "Christmas
in August" theme was soon settled on. And on Friday August 31, people
met up in a decorated skybox high over the Caledon Oxbridge Village sim
to listen to enjoy the music and scenery, and have fun.
For those who don't know,
Caledon Oxbridge University is best known for its orientation classes
for new residents. Details about the classes can be read at the
university's website at (http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/)
As for the party, the scenery around the skybox was quite Christmasy
with a frozen pond in the middle, a merry-go round, stands where people
could grab a cup of coco, a gazebo meant for Santa Claus to sit in,
though this being August he was absent, with a sack people could grab a
present from, a smaller pond where a few mechanical carolers were
dancing, a red house in the middle of a white picket fence all decorated
for Christmas, and plenty of reindeer and other critters. There was also a campfire somewhere.
From
3 to 5PM SL time, DJ Nyree Rain played music for the crowd. There was a
number of traditional Xmas tunes. But there were some other songs.
After a one hour break, DJ Cynthia Farshore took the music stream. She
played songs such as, "A Pirate Christmas," Mannheim Steamroller's
"Coventry Carol," "O Holy Night" sung in Navajo, the "Grinch" song by
Boris Karloff, Queen's "Thank God It's Christmas," and others.
"Lovely
place!" Shockwave Yareach commented as he looked at the scenery, "I'll
have to finish my Xmas lights soon." Cynthia chuckled, "like Wal-Mart,
not even Labor Day and he's putting out lights." When Trans-Siberian
Orchestra's "Wizards in Winter" started playing, Shockwave commented,
"And EVERYONE asks me to have this song in my show!"
Stereo
Nacht wondered if her outfit was more complex than her avatar, "Hm. I
worry the snowflakes with my dress are rising my complexity. It's not
often I get about 100k as a Tiny." Liška Bystrouška (Liska Fuchs)
brought up Shockwave's buck goat avatar, and Cynthia's vixen, "One week,
and Shocky and Cynthia will be their old selves again (smile). Andrea
Jones (andreajonesms Resident), whom was in a taur avatar that had a few
teddy bears on her back, responded, "Aww, I like them this way Liska."
Shockwave joked, "Well I'm tired of can food." Andrea countered, "But
don't you enjoy being nimble footed Shockwave?" He answered, "I miss
having soft toes to wriggle ..."
Cynthia
was saying, "Wow! Showing ... some one in Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka is
tuned in to the stream." "A Ceylong way," Liska mused. It was at this
time Weird Al Yankovic's "Christmas At Ground Zero" began playing.
Cynthia joked, "Now to make them in Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka really go
HUH?! with this tune." It was brought up two of the small country's
bigger neighbors were nuclear-armed rivals.
It
was probably inevitable, but eventually someone got a snowball thrower
and started tossing. "Oh no!" Andrea commented after getting hit, "Snow
Balls!" The frozen missiles zipped around for a couple minutes. Then
something new was added: frogs! "Frogs .. is we in Egypt now?" Leelee
Blessed asked. Shockwave chuckled, "Toadly in theme." "Did somebody
croak?" I asked. "Or did they just get frog in the throat?" Shockwave
joked, "Coming soon to your freezer - frozen frog legs." Other things
were soon tossed, from turkeys to rolls of toilet paper, to pies.
Then
the "Doctor Who" music began playing. Which at a steamlands party often
means some certain metallic company is not far away, "Get yer guns
ready!" And then came the Daleks, the infamous robotic villains from the
sci-fi show. "A Christmas Dalek I love it!" Peter From New York called
out. But if they hate anything more than humans, it's other factions of
Daleks, Renegade versus Imperial. So most of the robots wiped out one
another, and the two left were easily overcome by snowballs, or
"exterminated." Andrea sighed at the mess, "Daleks, always leaving a
mess for someone else to clean up."
Eventually,
the two hours came to a close. "Thank you all for coming," Andrea told
everyone. When asked about the event's fundraising totals, Wordsmith
Jarvinen commented, "I'll count it up in the morning. If we did as well
as earlier we'll be out of deficit. My goal is to have a constant buffer
in the account after paying all instructor stipends and tier
quarterly." He went on to say their fund hadn't been in the positive
since January, "Keeping Oxbridge runs about 107k $L per quarter, about
75k of that tier. ...I'm very hopeful that tonight turned the trick. ...
I always feel very humble about the willingness of many to keep
Oxbridge afloat."
It was a fun event that this summer helped us keep our cool.
It was a case of
"friends with benefits," or rather two benefits going on last Saturday
July 22, along with a third that had taken place a couple days earlier.
The
biggest one was organized by Any1 Gynoid, a friend of the Newser whom
was once one of it's reporters, in addition to being a former CNN
iReporter. Her tenth rezzday fell on Saturday July 22, and she decided
to turn it into an 11 hour-long benefit for the "Feed a Smile" group in
the sim of the same name, which raises funds for the Live and Learn in
Kenya charity.
The event started at 8AM. I dropped in just after 10:30 AM
and saw some stand-up comedy featuring with Catboy Qunhua, Wy Noyt,
(Wyvern Blazewood), Thinkerer Melville. After that a performance of
African drum music by DJ Ottowan (aka Pilot of the Airwaves).
By the end of the event at 7PM, over 145,000 Linden dollars had been raised. At 100L per meal, this was enough for 1450 meals. Any1 was pooped after all this, "I wants to curl up in fetal position for about 24 hours after 11 hour event madness (giggle)."
Also
going on that day was the "Pixel to Pixel" anniversary party. The
group, which has been in Second Life for eight years, helps the disables and others with limited or no incomes some financial assistance inworld in order to "do things that many enjoy in SL without giving it a second
thought -- have a home, buy some clothing or furniture, or simply taking
snapshots or uploading textures." The event, besides celebrating the occasion, was also to raise donations to provide such support.
Jadyn Firehawk, the founder of the group, was among those there. She had special thanks for the people at the Junkyard Blues club as "their donation kiosk ... single handedly brings in the most donations of anywhere else on the grid!" Later on, "I need to say too that Eme Capalini is here from Virtual Ability, which is the group that I came into SL through, on day 1, and inspired me to do the foundation in the first place"
There were cutouts of a Hawaiian man and woman, of which one could click to get a lei and hula hoop. There was also some AI device named Kyrie, which provided entertainment in the form of often random answers in response to requests, "Hey Kiri, tell us a joke!" "I would avoid the sushi if I was you. It’s a little fishy." "Hey Kiri, tell another joke." "Hmm. Thinking… 'Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block' is the second full-length album from New Jersey indie rock band Danielson Famile." When asked who made her, it answered, "I was created by Stephen Wolfram and his team." When someone invited Kyrie to greet me, it's response was, "Hi there Bixyl. Wow, you're certainly shorter than most dudes in Second Life."
Jadyn told me the event today alone had raised, 55,930 Linden dollars, "for the week, because of the publicity for the event included, it's L$77,571. That translates to 155 person-weeks of support!" As the party neared it's end, people wished her and Pixel to Pixel well, "Congratulations on your 8th anniversary, may there be many many more. SL has been and is a lifeline for me, so glad to be able to help this excellent cause."
A couple days earlier, there had been another benefit worth mentioning. Maxx Sabretooth, a live musician in Second Life, he has had health problems in recent years, and in need of a heart/and kidney transplants. He would write on his gofundme page, "This week I am heading to Houston, TX for evaluation for this lifesaving
surgery which will be an expensive venture. Therefore, I am attempting
raise approximately $2500 to help in this process." So Mrs. Elissiana Jahzara Caproni (Elissiana Caproni) announced a concert to raise funds for him.
Maxx Sabretooth is undergoing medical evaluations this week for a heart/kidney transplant! We're having 3 benefit concerts at Nat's Jazz Club's outdoor stage Today July 20, 2017: 3pm SLT - Keeba Tammas 4pm SLT - Max Keene 5pm SLT - Chandra Deed It's outside, so come as you are and support Maxx!!!
Heading over to Nat's Jazz Club, Keeba Tammas and her "Tiny Maniacs" had the stage, entertaining the crowd with their music and antics. "Soooo adorable!" one lady called them. Elissiana Caproni was there, calling out, "We're all here to help Maxx Sabretooth out in his journey to a better quality of life, so be sure to tip the jars on either side of the stage to show your love and support! o directly donate to his go fund me page click the sign on the far right side with Maxx's photo..Thanks so much!" Following Keeba and her band was Max Kleene.
Talking later to Elissiana, she told me, "We raised over 51K but there may be another benefit for him this weekend. ... Maxx is a good friend and we were glad to pitch in and help the funds be raised tonight. ... We had a great turn out tonight." There was another event, and they met the goal of the current gofundme. But this is most likely not the end of Max's expenses.
In Second Life, the veterans' charity "Homes Four Our Troops," which helps those who once served in the American Armed Forces whom have fallen on hard times by building them homes, is perhaps best known for it's monthly charity at Veterans Isle, organized by musician Frets Nirvana. But last month, it was joined by a second fundraiser. This one was organized by Blaze Teardrop.
Blaze, a member of the California National Guard in real-life, was the owner of Alpha Labs in Second Life. With Crowe Blackheart and Simplerosey Resident helping him with the event, He rented some land in the Grand Manor sim, set up a stage, and made a call for builders to put up some wares to sell for the charity. Linden Labs heard about his event, and made an announcement in the official Second Life Blog. The event began Sunday February 21, and lasted a week to Monday February 29. The area had live music events most of the days it was open, the schedule saying Frets himself was part of line line up. Second Life Newser was also informed that Frets also provided the kiosks for the Grand Manor event.
I had a few words with Blaze following the event, which he stated "went very well." He went on to say over thirty designers had taken part in the event, putting up items for sale, with proceeds going to the charity. He didn't say how much was raised, as he was "waiting for an accurate count from HFOT." But he did say he and his team were planning another event this summer, "We're gonna have another even July 2-10. ... We are going to schedule a meeting for all our staff to talk about what we did right and wrong and what we can do better. So we are better prepared for our next event." He thanked Crowe, Simplerosey, and the others involved, "I just want all my staff to get credit because I wouldn't have been able to do this event without there help and support."
I dropped by just after the event ended to see it the finally tally in the kiosks was available, but the owners of the sim had already reclaimed the land. So the kiosks were not available to view.
On Sunday February 28, Veterans Isle held their monthly benefit concert as scheduled, from 5PM SL time to 9PM (Midnight EST). Besides Frets, Lyndon Heart, Zak Claxton and Shaye Dezno also took part. Donations were generous, especially in the final hour, the total being 155,400 Lindens raised once Frets stepped down from the stage.
A few days later, Frets made an announcement, concerning not just his event, but both of the fundraisers.
I am once again proud to announce the results for our efforts in Second Life for Homes ForOur Troops. For February we will be sending HFOT over $1050 because of the efforts of many people in Second Life. A big thank you goes to Blaze Teardrop and all the folks at Grand Manor. The special event they sponsored in late February really increased our donations. Additionally all the great artists at our monthly benefit at Veterans Isle did a fantasticjob. Thank you Lyndon Heart, Zak Claxton and Shaye Dezno Jonstone for donating yourservices and providing great performances that inspired our donors. And the consistentsupport from Checkers Firelight, Jardasius Ecksol, Dahlea Milena, Bri Mcmahon, GjackieWinkler, Victoreeia and Graywolf2030 are what keeps our efforts for severely woundedveterans on target! Let's keep this effort rolling! It is a pleasure and an honor to be a part of this project. Our extremely wounded veterans deserve it.
The next benefit at Veterans Isle should be on March 27, starting at 5PM SL time.
ABOUT HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS - HFOT builds homes as a departure point for
Veterans to rebuild their lives, and once again become highly
productive members of society. Despite their life-altering injuries,
many Veterans have embarked on new careers, completed their college
degrees, or started families. Empowered by the freedom a mortgage-free
and specially adapted home brings, these Veterans can now focus on their
recovery and return to their life’s work of serving others. Many have
embraced their roles as motivational speakers, sharing their messages of
persevering through tragedy with groups and classrooms around the
country; others take to a national platform to promote awareness of
veteran suicide, homelessness and PTSD. Their incredible stories are the
driving force for the work for HFOT. To learn more about the Homes For Our Troops visit https://www.hfotusa.org.
On Easter Sunday April 5 at Sunweaver Bay, Castle Primal Passions hosted a Relay for Life benefit to raise funds for Team Sunbeamers. She called it the "Stomp Out Cancer" party. The event was in two parts. From 2-4PM, there was a DJ music event with a theme and prize. At 4PM, an AC/DC tribute band played on a stage outside the club.
Normally an adult club with no dress code, this time club owner Rayven Tentigo (rayven.avalira) asked everyone to keep their pants on (or in the case of those with a coat of fur keep their "parts" hidden).
The theme was "Best in Black," and there were quite a number of outfits, and avatars, in theme.
In this picture from Rayven, the club owner struts her moves on a table in a "bunny" outfit.
Kite Petshop was the DJ for the first part of the event. As 4PM neared, he closed out his session with a tune from the "1812 Overture" that's been worked in some movies and war games, "Thanks for being here, and thanks for listening to my madness."
There was a prize of 2500L for the one best in theme. It was split between Shadowprincess23 and VenAAX.
"Thank you all who entered the contest, on behalf of Rayven, Kite, and myself, along with our staff. We get to match the prize money given to the winner in donations to Relay for Life, to kick cancer down the Highway to Hell where it belongs!"
Outside Castle Primal Passions, there was what looked like a huge locomotive. This was the stage for the tribute band. They strummed their instruments for a while, then, "Okay people, I think you waited long enough! SOUND CHECK!!"
And the curtain flew open, and the concert was on.
From left to right, Dagger1 Dagger played the part of Malcom Young, Paul Woodrunner as Cliff Williams, Jamie Geraln as Brian Johnson, Random Nirvana as Phil Rudd, and Wraith Belgar as Angus.
"AC/DC WILL THROW IN A CUSTOM MOTORCYCLE TO THE PERSON THAT MAKES THE
HIGHEST DONATION LETS STAMP CANCER OUT IN THIS GENERATION!!! ACDC LOVES
YOU GUYS!"
On Tuesday May 13th, the Creations for Parkinson's group held their third annual fundraiser at the Sweethearts Jazz club. For thirteen hours, a number of musicians performed for the crowd, which was up to 75 avatars in size. The event was to raise funds for the Michael J. Fox foundation.
Last year, the event had raised 756,000 Lindens. In the final hour of the event, they not only reached that amount again, but exceeded it. At the official close of the event, the total raised was 800,000 Lindens, or more than $2,500 US dollars. More would be continued to be donated, and later the official number was 805,000 Lindens.
Barbie Alchemi, the head of Creations for Parkinson's, called the amount donated, "amazing! ... it is the power of love!" Barbie went on to say someone had told her Linden Lab's CEO Ebbe Altberg himself had tweeted about the event. Also, "Firestorm and Singularity viewers all had us on their opening page today!!!! I am so happy and amazed at the kindness and generosity of the SL community."
Barbie expressed her thanks to the Newser not just for helping to publicize the event, but also writing about her real-life mother Fran Serenade, "she is unique both in real-life and in SL. She is so filled with love and joy of life. She is always eager to learn the next thing. When we are out (in real life) food shopping people will stopped us and say to her 'Do you know you glow' and she does."
Eventually, Barbie had to leave, "I have been glued to my computer chair since 8 am and it is time for me to get unglued. Heehee!" She expressed her thanks to "Shannon, Blake and the entire Sweethearts team."
A few months ago, Sway Dench, one of SL’s most creative and
nicest residents, learned that she had a serious medical problem.Sway
owns Swayland, located at SwayLand (157, 168, 21).She
is known for her Cookie Bears and designs that celebrate home, love, family,
and friends.
In November, Sway sent her friends and supporters a notecard
that told them she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The good news is that there is a high
probability that the tumor is benign. She is scheduled to have surgery in RL on January
28, 2013.
“Until then,” Sway wrote, “I'm gonna try to be online as
often as possible but unfortunately I won't be able to work as much as I used
to.”She also stated that she will be
out of SL for a few months after the surgery while she is recovering.Naturally Sway was concerned about losing
Swayland and her design shop during her absence.When
her friends found out about the problem, they got together to create “Together
for Sway,” an event designed to help her and her sim.
In her note Sway stated, “Not only have you been listening
to me, giving me strength thereby and encouraging me, you also have thought of
something exceptional.... I am overwhelmed and practically speechless about the
level of support I have experienced so far.Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”
“Together for Sway” was a huge market that was set up at The
Nest (214, 57, 2000) during December.According to the “Together for Sway” blog, over 80 stores and designers
participated in the market.On the first
day, 500,000 Lindens were raised!
I didn’t make it to
the opening day, but I stopped by later in the month.Every
type of item could be bought there:lots
of fancy and casual outfits, jewelry, animations, furniture, buildings, little
cat hats, food, games—even a ringing telephone.There were so many neat items
that it was hard to decide what to get. Many
of them were at special prices, too.By
the time the event ended, a total of 1,551,825 Lindens had been raised.
A few days ago, Sway sent her friends and supporters another
note and a special gift, a unique Thank-You Cookie Bear.In her note Sway wrote, “I'd like to thank
all of you!The talented designers who
donated time to build lovely and wonderful items...customers for your shopping
stamina, bloggers for spreading the word through great pictures and posts, DJs
and bands for the fun times and great music.You have given me a lot more than Lindens.You gave me a boost, strength, a reason to
laugh, a shoulder to cry on, and a huge hug!Thank you all very much for your help, your support, friendship and
love.”
Although the market is gone, donations can still be made on
Swayland.The “Together for Sway” blog
plans to provide updates on Sway until she is able to return to SL.The link is www.togetherforsway.wordpress.comAll of us at SL Newser join in wishing Sway
a speedy recovery!
