I woke up this morning and found my son playing his favorite game Roblox, a kids virtual world and one of our portfolio companies, where one of the unique things is that the kids/users create all the worlds. Nothing unusual in the fact that he was playing, but today my son was playing one that seemed a little different - and it turns out that some user had created a virtual word of Haiti inside Roblox, complete with ongoing earthquakes. Then he told me about the Blue Hat for Haiti he was wearing, and that when he bought it $.10 goes to Haiti via the American Red Cross directly from Roblox. Right now my son is creating his own world in Roblox about Haiti, and he's going to donate $.10 of his own money for every person who visits it.
He also has the Red Hat for Haiti which costs more but donates $.65, and other kids are creating T-Shirts that say Pray for Haiti and more. It's hard for adults to try to understand what's happened in Haiti and how to help, and it's great to see kids finding ways to engage and help via virtual goods and virtual worlds in their own way.
Another portfolio company myYearbook.com has redirected its already meaningful charity efforts towards Haiti - see the post below where their members have already generated $250,000 through 2009 via their Causes progam. Other technology companies are stepping up in a big way as well.
myYearbook Members Respond to Haiti Catastrophe
January 15th, 2010



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