Make-a-Wish International

Speaker 1 1:14

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 2:03

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

Speaker 1 2:10

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 2:25

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 3:14

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 3:36

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 3:54

Absolutely .

Speaker 2 3:55

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 .

Speaker 2 4:04

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 .

Speaker 2 4:10

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 5:12

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 5:36

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 6:19

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 6:58

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 7:23

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 8:07

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 8:24

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

Speaker 2 8:29

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 .

Speaker 2 9:01

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 9:19

So that's my dream .

Speaker 2 9:20

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 10:15

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 .

Speaker 1 10:41

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 11:00

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 11:45

What platform is that on ?

Speaker 2 11:47

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

Speaker 1 11:48

Oh , is it really yeah ?

Speaker 2 11:51

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 12:03

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 12:52

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

Role for Wishes

Speaker 2 13:44

. 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 .

Speaker 2 14:14

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 .

Speaker 2 15:01

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 15:13

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 15:46

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 .

Speaker 2 16:23

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 .

Speaker 2 17:07

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 .

Speaker 2 17:31

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 17:59

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 18:51

You mean D&D players or tabletop gamers ?

Speaker 1 18:54

Yeah , tabletop gamers .

Speaker 2 18:57

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 .

Speaker 2 19:37

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 .

Speaker 2 20:22

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 21:04

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 .

Roll for Wishes Fundraising and Community Involvement

Speaker 1 21:21

You know , it's really .

Speaker 1 21:23

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 .

Speaker 1 22:27

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 23:31

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 23:52

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 24:27

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 .

Speaker 2 25:19

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 .

Speaker 2 26:07

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 26:39

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 26:51

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 .

Fundraising for Dungeons & Dragons Campaigns

Speaker 2 27:02

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 .

Speaker 2 27:21

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 .

Speaker 2 27:45

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 28:13

Oh cool .

Speaker 2 28:14

Yeah , so they made it super fun that way , that's great .

Speaker 2 28:16

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 28:51

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 29:17

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 29:52

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 30:41

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 31:01

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

Speaker 2 31:04

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 31:23

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 31:38

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 .

Speaker 2 31:51

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 .

Speaker 2 32:39

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 .

Speaker 2 33:08

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 33:41

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 34:08

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 34:36

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

Speaker 2 34:42

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

Speaker 1 34:47

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 .

Speaker 1 35:05

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 35:39

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 .

Speaker 2 36:09

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 .

Speaker 2 36:46

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 37:23

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 38:03

I think so , I hope so .

Speaker 1 38:06

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 38:25

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 .

Speaker 2 38:51

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

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Speaker 2 39:08

, 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 .

Speaker 2 39:28

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 39:36

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

Speaker 2 39:38

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 40:04

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

Speaker 2 40:11

Yes .

Speaker 1 40:14

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 40:40

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

Speaker 1 40:44

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 41:28

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 .

Speaker 2 42:25

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 43:15

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 44:10

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

Speaker 1 44:15

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

Speaker 2 44:17

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 44:28

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 44:54

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 .

Speaker 2 45:22

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 45:49

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 46:29

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

Speaker 1 46:32

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

Speaker 2 46:35

Thanks so much , bye , bye .