Give to Game Pictures

Food! A total of 250lbs of food was collected!

The Game Library

People Playing Games

Silent Auction

Prize Table (later in the afternoon)

Give to Game was a Success!

Even though there were a few hiccups along the way, Give to Game was a great success! We collected two big bins full of food for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Through the admission, silent auction, snack sales, and raffle, we were able to collect more money than our goal:

$800!!

Thanks to all of you who made this event a success! I'd like to especially thank Great Hall Games and Dragon's Lair for their door prize and silent auction donations. A big thanks to Thought Hammer for donating some big ticket items to the silent auction and for the gift certificates! And a big thanks to all who donated games: Mike Chapel, Mark Hamzy, and Brent Cunningham.

We plan on trying this again next year!

(Pictures to come soon)

Tomorrow is Give to Game!

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I'll be hauling over the games and setting up tonight. The doors open at 10:00 am tomorrow, but feel free to come at any time.

Things you should bring:

• Your admission: either groceries or $20 (or $10 if you registered)
• Any games that you would like to play.
• Extra money for the silent auction and raffle.
• Some friends! Everyone is welcome!

Schedule:

• 10:00 AM - Give to Game begins!
• Throughout the day - Door prizes will given out.
  
• 8:00 PM - Silent Auction Closes.
  
• 8:30 PM - Thought Hammer Raffle.
  
• Midnight - Give to Game concludes.

Event Location:

Holy Cross Lutheran Church
(At the building in the back)
4622 S Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78745

(Parking areas are highlighted)

View Give To Game in a larger map

Game Library

I have posted a list of games on boardgamegeek.com that I will be including in the game library.

You can add to the list any game you plan on bringing. You can also use it to let people know what you might be interested in playing.

Dragon's Lair Donates

Dragon's Lair, Austin's comic and game store, will donating some games, Monty Python Fluxx and Rorschach Inkblot Party Game, to be given out as door prizes! Thank you Dragon's Lair!

Event Location

It turns out Google Street View has a nice shot of the building where Give to Game will take place (however, ignore the address that appears). This is a building that Holy Cross Lutheran Church is letting us use for the day. Outside, it doesn't look like much, but inside is a big open space perfect for boardgaming!


View Larger Map

Silent Auction Rules

Kelly and I went over the details for the silent auction today, just to make sure we had everything written down and decided beforehand. Our biggest point of contention was the last item in the rules: You must be present to win. In the end we decided that there would be the potential for headaches if we had to track people down, mail items, wait for payment, etc.

1. Bidding starts at 10:00 AM and closes at 8:00 PM.
2. Shortly before the bidding closes, there will be a 'last call' for bids.
3. All bids must be higher than the previous bid and be in increments of $1.00.
4. If the current bid is at or below the “Buy Now” price, you may take the bid slip to Dan or Kelly, and buy the item for that amount.
5. You must be present and have the payment in hand at the close of the auction to win an item. If you are not present at the close of the auction and you have the highest bid, the item will be verbally auctioned off starting with the second highest bid.

Auction Preview

Give to Game is less than two weeks away! Here is a sneak preview of some of the items that will be available in the silent auction:

• Stonehenge
• Freya's Folly
• Neuland
• Race the Wind
• Feudo
• Warangel Card Game
• Don't Break the Bank
• Puzzle Collection - Cerebral Rings, Illusions, Scrambled Egg, Super Nova
• Cineplexity
• Modern Art
• Beowulf - The Movie Boardgame
• 1992 Box Set Dungeons & Dragons Trading Cards
• Nottingham
• Jericho

Thanks to Great Hall Games, Dan Manfredini, and Brent Cunningham for donating these games!

To learn more information about these games, check out this list on boardgamegeek.com.

Grocery Bag of Food

It is getting close to the 25th, so I thought I would talk about what kind of food donations we are requesting for admission. The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas has some nice guidelines to go by, so here they are:

Types of Food to Donate:

• Healthy non-perishable food
• Items with intact, un-opened, consumer or commercial packaging
• Items with non-breakable packaging (no glass please)
• Food within the expiration date on the packaging

Most-Requested Items:

• Canned meats like tuna, stew and chili (pop-tops preferred)
• Canned vegetables
• Pasta & pasta sauce
• Beans
• Rice
• Healthy cereals
• Peanut butter
• Baby food
• Baby formula

So, with the most-requested list in mind, I went out and filled up my paper grocery bag (pictured above) with one or more of those most-requested items.



Here is how I filled my bag:

• 1 Box of Cereal
• 1 Bag of Rice
• 1 Bag of Noodles
• 1 Peanut Butter
• 1 Baby Food
• 1 Can of Spaghetti Sauce
• 2 Cans of Black Beans
• 2 Cans of Green Beans
  
• 2 Cans of Pork and Beans
• 2 Cans of Mixed Vegetables
• 2 Cans of Tuna
  

This can be used as a guideline for what we're expecting, though feel free to contribute whatever non-perishable food items you want.

Follow the Can

If you decide to donate food at Give To Game for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, where exactly will it go? Watch this video to follow the entire process from your pantry to those in need.



After being checked for safety and quality, the Food Bank distributes your food donation to one or more of the 355 Partner Agencies across 21 Central Texas counties. Partner Agencies including soup kitchens, pantries and shelters then provide food to hungry Central Texans.

Silent Auction

We've decided to hold a silent game auction at Give to Game! All money collected from this auction will benefit the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.

So, how will the silent auction work? There will be a table with several games and puzzles on display for auction. Each item in the auction will have a bidding sheet with the item name and description. If you are interested in the item, you can sign your name and increase the bid amount (in increments of one dollar). We will give a warning leading up to it, but at 8:00 pm the bidding will close. Since this is for charity, some wiggle room will be given if there are any last minute bidding wars. With some luck and some clever bidding, you could go home with some new games!

You can make the auction a success by bidding on the games so make sure to bring some extra spending money. You can also help out by donating games if you'd like. We would be happy to receive them. Just drop us an email at givetogame@gmail.com to let us know.

See you there, and happy bidding!

Thought Hammer Gives

The giving continues! I just found out that Thought Hammer, the online board game retailer based here in Austin, is donating two $25 gift certificates for their online store. If you aren't familiar with Thought Hammer, check out their website and you'll find a world of boardgames at great prices. You might even want to check out how you would spend that gift certificate if you are lucky enough to win one. Remember, you have a chance to win one of these gift certificates (as well as many other prizes) just by attending. So, spread the word: Give to Game!

Capital Area Food Bank of Texas Intro

So, what is the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas? Well according to their mission statement:

The mission of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas is to nourish hungry people and lead the community in ending hunger.

The food bank provides weekly food distribution to more than 355 Partner Agencies and disaster relief, conducts several programs that serve hungry Central Texans. All programs are free of charge.

• The Partner Education program works to educate partner distribution agencies to ensure access to serviced by underserved people and areas.
• The Choices program offers education classed to help individuals and families make good food choices.
• The Food Stamp Outreach and Education program helps assist individuals and families to apply for food stamps.
• The Fresh Food for Families program helps to provide 3,600 families a month with over 10,000 lbs of fresh produce.
• The Kids Cafe program provides 35,000 meals a month to 2,800 children in need at their 31 Kid's Cafe locations.
• The Healthy Options program for the Elderly (HOPE) program provides seniors on a fixed income with a months supply of staple grocerys.
• The Regional Food Delivery program provides more than 150,000 lbs of perishable packaged foods to 121 partner agencies in outlying areas.
• The Central Texas Food Rescue program provides partner agencies with fresh foods from local retailers that would otherwise be thrown out.
• Wheels of Sharing Mobile Food Pantry program; which provides fresh foods to remote locations in Central Texas where no food pantry is available.
• The Food Bank also participates in two partner programs: Texas Fresh Approach and Texas Second Chance. Both of these programs work with inmates who learn to grow and distribute food.

They do a lot of good work and are needed even more in this current economy as many families are struggling. We hope that you are able to come out on April 25th and give to this worthy cause. See you there!

Great Haul!

Yesterday, I stopped by Great Hall Games to pick up some donations for Give To Game. Beka, one of the owners, led me out to her car where the games were. As it turns out, I was helping her out because they had been taking up space in her car trunk for quite some time and she wanted that space back. To my amazement, she was able to give me a trunk load of board games and puzzles! After I transferred those games to my car, we went inside, and she had another stack of games waiting for me! And if that wasn't more than enough, she hand picked some games on the clearance rack to add to the pile. I was amazed! I am very grateful at the generosity of Great Hall Games for their support. All of the games donated will be given out as door prizes or will be auctioned off in a silent auction (I'll let you know more about that in a future post).

Welcome!

Give to Game is a board gaming event in Austin, Texas, whose goal is to collect food and raise funds for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Come join us for a day of open gaming and a chance to win some great door prizes!

Date & Place
The event takes place on April 25, 2009 from 10:00 AM to Midnight at Holy Cross Lutheran Church on 4622 S Lamar Blvd Austin, Texas.

Admission
Admission to the event is either one grocery bag of non-perishable food or a donation of $20 (or $10 if you register by April 18th). To register, send an email to givetogame@gmail.com and let us know that you plan on attending. Registration is not required, but it does help us out.

Games
We will be providing a library of games from our collection for anyone to play, but feel free to bring your own games!

Food & Drinks
There will be drinks and snacks available for a small donation.

Door Prizes
So far, we have about 20 board games that are going to be given out as door prizes, but look for that number to go up as we move closer to the event.

More Info to Come Soon...