Hello, I'm Jeff Hopper, better known to people here as jeff37923. I'd like to tell you about a local convention for gamers that raises money for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee. I'm hoping that by telling of this, how it all came about, a taste of the experience of it, and short interviews with the people involved, then other gamers out there will want to do similar charity events. Well, that and I want to brag on those involved here because it is a damn fine thing.

Save vs Hunger has their own Facebook page that can be found here. Complete with many more photos of the event as it progresses.

It is 11:00 in the AM and gaming is already going on.



There are ten tables in use right now, with people playing games of either Pathfinder or D&D 5E. Both the Pathfinder Society and D&D Organized Play have made a good showing with attendance being 35 players and 30 volunteer staff that are also playing. The gaming started at 8:00AM and will be finished sometime around midnight tonight, then it happens again tomorrow from 10AM to 7PM.

Swag for people who bought their memberships through the GoFundMe site is nice.



I got a T-shirt in a size large enough to fit this 6' 2" chunky monkey. A nice hand knitted dice bag with scales that is pretty cool by LauraKnitsForNerds. Finally a nice program / thank you card to commemorate the event.

The first tally of the amount of money raised will be at noon.

This is Aaron Wampler, a 33-year old Investigative Analyst. His favorite games are Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and Legends of the Five Rings. He is the Founder and Primary Organizer for the Save vs Hunger events.

Aaron originally had the idea for Save vs Hunger in 2006, but was not in a position to organize an event, however he recognized that preventing hunger was a need in the local community. Last year, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, he wanted to do an event and wanted it to be a charity, since the idea had been percolating in the back of his mind, Save vs Hunger was born. It started as a conversation between Aaron and a friend on Facebook, when every other Facebook friend saw it and mentioned that it was a great idea - it snowballed. In three short weeks, Save vs Hunger was a reality. That first event raised $860 for Second Harvest Food Bank.

The second Save vs Hunger Event in July of 2014, raised $3000.

So, why Second Harvest Food Bank? There are a lot of charities to raise money for. Aaron chose Second Harvest because they are an incredibly efficient organization, they are run like a business and can get the most mileage for the money donated to them. Every dollar is worth three meals and it is about min-maxing the benefit to the community.

Aaron did not want to just ask people for money, but instead wanted to sell them a gaming experience. Knoxville does not have a dedicated gaming convention and he wanted to provide that. To Aaron, gamers have passion and that is energy, to channel part of that passion into something constructive like a charity seemed to be a logical progression. That is the gaming experience that Save vs Hunger offers people, the chance to not only be heroes in a game but to also be heroes in real life by helping to feed those in need.

Aaron wants people here to feel that they are at a gaming convention enjoying themselves, not at a charity event. It is a very clever disguise. There is a very businesslike approach to Save vs Hunger events, they are designed to not only raise money, but to also be self-supporting so that it can continue. Most charity events run by people who have not done them before peter out after one or two shots. Save vs Hunger is being designed and run to stay around for a long time.

This is Fred Dailey, a 39 year old Cartoonist with a day job (he refuses to let what he does 40 hours a week define him). His favorite game is Dungeon Crawl Classics and he is here to run both Labyrinth Lord and Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Fred is here to do a two-for, both play some great games and donate to a great charity. He also wants to prove that gamers can get out of the basement and be social creatures during daylight hours. This is Fred's second one and he attends in order to play games for a purpose besides just simple entertainment.

This is Cera Smith, a 24 year old Veterinary Receptionist who enjoys Pathfinder, Magic the Gathering, and World of Warcraft.

Cera has been busy with Cthulhu for the past month.



Starting with the last Save vs Hunger, Cera has painted a miniature for use in the raffle to also raise money for Second Harvest that also happens during the event. She is a member of the Pathfinder Society and loves that she can come out and play three tables in a day and support a worthy cause. While this feels like a charity event, people only want to spend money within the building on stuff here, if it was only a Pathfinder Society event she might not have asked off work to come out and support it.

She does miniature painting for extra money and can be contacted via her  AltersByKaledra@gmail.com email address

It is 1:30PM and so far $1731.50 has been raised for Second Harvest Food Bank.

This is Patrick Bird, a 46 year old writer whose favorite game is the one he is writing (still in playtesting currently).

Patrick is the creator of the First Official Module for Save vs Hunger, The Ruins of Haunted Hill (review copies available) which is being sold for $5 a copy with all proceeds going to Second Harvest Food Bank. He came out to support what he considers a noble cause, because he has friends involved and wants to support them, and have fun for the day. It feels like a gaming convention to him being here for the day.

Patrick wrote while Fred illustrated and listening to the two of them is reminiscent of a running comedy duo skit. Playful insults constantly exchanged between the two.



Patrick's gaming related mental meanderings can be found here.

This is Nick Greene, a 30 year old full time student at Pellissippi State and the Knoxville Pathfinder Society Venture Captain for the East Tennessee area.

Pathfinder Society members account for about 60% of today's turnout so far. The main reasons for this high turnout is threefold according to Nick. Paizo has a large number of good and entertaining scenarios that are being churned out rapidly (if you play once a week, you are outpacing the number of scenarios being out out). The campaign leadership is very generous with prize support for convention events. The final and most important piece of this is the quality of the gamemasters whose goal is not to be the most accurate with knowledge of the rules but being involved and invested in the people (GMs and Players alike) having a fun experience.

Nick originally got involved when asked to run Pathfinder at the first Save vs Hunger event. He was already very altruistic, being part of the VFW, and decided that this was a worthy charity to be with.

Nick just fell into the role of Venture Captain, since Knoxville did not have one at the time he started. Sometimes, looking in from the outside, it seems like he is just herding cats. Yet the mutual support he has received by being a part of the Pathfinder Society has made the craziness worthwhile and rewarding. This is represented by how the Venture Captains  Mike Seales of Birmingham Alabama, James Becker of Asheville North Carolina, and Justin Peters of Chattanooga Tennessee all drove out here today to support Pathfinder Society play at a charity event. This kind of mutual support helps to grow everybody's convention.

Nice coverage, Jeff, I like the micro-bios.

When it's all said and done, I think a rundown of _how_ SvH managed to raise so much money for charity would be worthwhile.  Other charity rpg events would benefit greatly from SvH's experience.

Man this is awesome. I would have so gone and done what I could.

Quote from: VectorSigma;812133When it's all said and done, I think a rundown of _how_ SvH managed to raise so much money for charity would be worthwhile.  Other charity rpg events would benefit greatly from SvH's experience.

I'll pull Aaron back over and ask him as soon as I finish dinner.

As of 7:45PM, $2600 has been raised for Save vs Hunger. By gamers.

Quote from: jeff37923;812157As of 7:45PM, $2600 has been raised for Save vs Hunger. By gamers.

That's amazing.  We were pleased with the $350ish we raised for Wounded Warrior with our event, but $2000+ is insane.  Congrats!

Straight from Aaron...

Save vs Hunger raises so much money by acting like a Kickstarter campaign. First they allow people to pre-register for the event and if they donate more than the registration fee, they get rewards like the swag I showed earlier in the thread. There has been close partnering with local businesses to ensure that there are relevant to gamer prizes for the raffle. Gamers like to eat, and a concession stand full of food has been provided for people to spend money at (with all proceeds going to the charity). While Save vs Hunger likes donations, we expect that any items given for this charity are paid for with the creator getting a fair trade value, which is the difference between asking with hat in hand and asking with money in exchange for product (this has created very good relationships with artists because they are not approached with the attitude of, "We are a charity, give us something for free").

Quote from: jeff37923;812166Straight from Aaron...

Thanks, Aaron.