So this will be a very unusual post for this blog. It will be completely off topic.

One of the things I do in my spare time is to play snooker. Mind you, I am not good at the game. But I enjoy it, and it’s a nice break from sitting at my laptop.

Marathon

So why do I share this tidbit about my personal life? Why do I think anyone cares?

The reason is that I need some help.

Next month, on February 15 and 16, 2019, I am participating in a 24-hour snooker marathon. And with my participation in that marathon, I am trying to raise money for charity. I have set up a GoFundMe campaign and I hope to get lots of people who chime in to sponsor my marathon and contribute to War Child.

War Child

Perhaps you wonder why I chose War Child. There are lots of charities. All of them are always deserving of more money. I had to pick one. So why this one?

Obviously, hundreds of other charities qualify just as well. Bottom line, it’s my choice and the most important reason is that I really like the work War Child does.

But there are some reasons beyond just a personal hunch that made me select War Child for this campaign:

• War Child is non-religious. Lots of charities are firmly inspired by religion. I am okay with that. At the end of the day, if you do good things for the world I do not care whether you do them out of religious or other motives. It’s what you do that counts. But there are people that do care about religious affiliation. People that don’t want to contribute to charities that belong to the “wrong” religion. By choosing a neutral charity, I hope to avoid excluding anyone for religious reasons.
• War Child is unique. There are lots of areas where multiple charities are active (and, luckily, usually cooperating fine). But I have never seen any other charity that does the kind of work that War Child does.
• War Child works to protect children. A lot of charities work on behalf of groups or areas where some potential donors might argue that the group or area does not need protection, that it can take care of itself, or that there are worthier goals. But I cannot imagine anyone making that statement on children.
• War Child fights a horror that is made by humans, and that is one of the worst horrors one can imagine: children, always taken to be the dictionary definition of innocence, being stripped of that very innocence by placing them in the middle of war, and often even forcing them to participate in those wars.

War Child tries to rescue children that are forced to fight as child soldier. War Child also tries to help countries pass and enforce legislation to prevent children from being forced to fight. But War Child also works with children that have been damaged by war, supporting them and helping them regain their innocence. Or, simply put, War Child helps children be children again.

Please help

Please help me raise money for War Child. Go to the GoFundMe page and donate. After the snooker marathon is over, I will first get some sleep – but then I will withdraw the funds and donate every single penny to War Child.

I know people are always concerned with overhead. And yes, there is some overhead. As per their standard rules, GoFundMe will take a 2.9% off the donations to help cover the costs of running their service, plus a $0.30 processing fee for each transaction. But that’s all; there are no other costs at all. Everything that remains after these GoFundMe fees will go to WarChild.

I hope to see lots of donations. Thanks in advance!