Help Disadvantaged Kids Get Toys For Christmas

I have many wonderful childhood memories of playing with toys left under the Christmas Tree for me by Santa.  What a shame it would be if a child woke up Christmas morning to find nothing because his or her family didn't have the ability to shop for holiday presents.  The Toy Industry Foundation is asking for your help to ensure that disadvantaged youth get the same opportunity to have wonderful toy memories that so many of us who have lived more fortunate lives have enjoyed.

Make a donation of $10 or more to the Toy Industry Foundation's crowdrise fund raising page before noon on December 18th and Mattel will MATCH your donation.  Yes, the maker of Matchbox cars will match your contribution dollar for dollar to the Toy Industry Foundation made through this crowdrise campaign.  Plus donate at least $10 before the December 18, 2015 deadline and you'll be entered for a chance to win a Toy Gift Basket consisting of an assortment of Monster High, Ever After High, or Barbie items.  Every $10 donated is an additional entry to win a Toy Gift Basket. 

Our toy memories are so special to us, and everyone deserves to have their own.  You can make a toy memory for a child suffering from abandonment, abuse, coping with illness, whose family is down on their luck or who has been separated from an active-duty parent for months. The Toy Industry Foundation distributes toys and financial grants to children's charities across North America and around the world.  Your contributions will help them in bringing joy, comfort, and learning to children in need through the magic of play.

Help spread the word! Watch the video above then share your favorite  #MyToyMemory on social media encouraging your friends and followers to make a donation to help disadvantaged kids with the campaign's hashtag and a link to its crowdrise fundraising page.

Join the #MyToyMemory campaign to help make the holidays brighter for others.  Donate today! Remember Mattel will be matching donations up to a total contribution of $25,000 dollars.

For more information, visit www.crowdrise.com/MyToyMemory

R2-KT Bunny Ears Patch Supports Easter Seals

My daughter likes to add buttons, charms and patches to her backpack throughout the school year to personalize and make it her own unique thing.  One of the neat things we've discovered to add to it are Star Wars inspired patches of a little pink droid called R2-KT that come out around holidays and special events meant to keep a little girl's memory alive and support various charities.  The most recent patch features artwork by Dave Lieu illustrating R2-KT wearing bunny ears and all proceeds  support Easter Seals.  Each patch is $7.00 and includes free shipping.  You can order patches and pay for them via paypal to r2kt@r2kt.com

There is a special story behind R2-KT.  In 2005 a little girl named Katie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Katie loved Star Wars (like her father Ablin - the founder of the 501st Legion Star Wars fan club) and loved the color pink. When her health declined to the point she couldn't get out of bed, she said she wished she had a droid to watch over her like R2-D2 watched over a sleeping Padme in the Star Wars movie Attack of the Clones.  Word of Katie's illness spread throughout the Star Wars fan community and another club of fans that makes authentic recreations of droids from the Star Wars movies called The R2 Builders knew this was a job for them, and in mere months they constructed a custom R2 unit all painted in pink and dubbed it  R2-KT. It rolled, it blinked, it even talked: Katie had a droid to watch over her! And she kept KT by her bedside through her final days.  Katie passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 9, 2005.

Katie's legacy lives on in her pink companion. R2-KT now tours the world, spreading the joy to Star Wars fans and a message of hope for kids who suffer childhood illnesses. R2-KT attends fan conventions, visits sick children in hospitals, appears in parades, inspires young girls that Star Wars has a place for them, and helps raise funds for a wide range of charities. In 2007 Hasbro produced an R2-KT action figure, which raised $100,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2008 Dave Filoni of Lucasfilm featured the droid in a cameo role in the Clone Wars animated feature film, making her a canon member of the Star Wars universe! In 2013 KT appeared in the Star Wars Weekends parade in Disney World, then traveled to be a guest of honor at Celebration Europe II in Germany. R2-KT has become a symbol of everything Star Wars fandom has come to represent: spreading the magic of hope.

 For more information about R2-KT visit  www.r2kt.com