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Child’s Play is a charity run by the folks who created Penny Arcade (maybe you’ve heard of them?). Every year, the organization collects contributions in the form of games, toys, entertainment, and money and then donates them to needy children’s hospitals throughout the world.

Since 2003, Child’s Play has been the conduit through which gamers have shown the world that we are not idle husks of apathy, or murderers in training. During that span, the charity has received millions of dollars in donations that go directly toward making a difficult situation just a little bit easier for sick kids.

Here at Nukoda, we hope you will seriously consider shouldering a small part of the burden for these children and their parents this holiday season.

We were able to speak with Kristin Lindsay, Project Manager of Child’s Play, who let us in on some of the some of the charity’s goals and showed us one donation you will have to see to believe. She even had some suggestions on how the average gamer can find the means to help during this onslaught of must-play games.

How do you feel about the impact that Child’s Play has on debunking negative stereotypes about gamers?

“Honestly, it seems so far way now that Child’s Play was created as a response to negative stereotypes. We’ve seen, year after year, so much incredible support and generosity from the gaming community that it’s almost impossible to consider anything else. We’ve chosen now to focus our energies in providing the channels for gamers to give back to their communities. We don’t feel like we need to prove anything to anyone.”

What is the most interesting or most impressive donation seen for Child’s Play?

“With annual donations reaching over one million dollars last year, it would be difficult to single out the most “impressive” donation. This year, we have a very interesting donation from Bethesda. They have donated the fully customized Airstream trailer that they themed for the Fallout 3 video game to Child’s Play (Link). That will definitely be a unique item we will auction off for Child’s Play this year!”

This holiday season is tough on gamers. What one high profile game would you recommend skipping in favor of using that cash to donate to Child’s Play?

“I agree, the holiday season is killer! This is a tough call, there are a lot of titles in the pipe that we’re excited about. Rather than skip something entirely, maybe pass up the Limited Editions in favor of the basic games, and save the extra from all of them to buy your favorite toy or game for a Child’s Play hospital this year.”

How does being a parent affect your perspective on what you are doing for children’s hospitals?

“There is no question that it definitely brings the issue home. My daughter was hospitalized for a week a couple of years ago, and once you are in that situation, your eyes are really opened. You spend a lot of time watching movies, or trying to find a toy with all its pieces, or trying to keep your kid [from] crying just from the intimidation of it all. Her Nintendo DS was heavily used, and not all kids have one. I remember that the microwave in the Parents’ Room was broken, and I just wanted to heat up some soup and run back to her room. I thought to myself “I wonder if we can donate microwaves?” Items like this can be low priority to a non-profit hospital, but they really make a huge difference down in the pediatric wards.”

What are you doing to ensure that the ever-expanding list of hospitals remains satisfied, ie. how are you eliciting more and more donations every single year?

“Most important for us is to get the word out. The more people we can reach, the more they can see that they can support their local hospital through Child’s Play. We appreciate activism as much as we do donations!”

We want to thank Kristin Lindsay for answering our questions. Here is the Child’s Play link again, because one more time can’t hurt.