Gabe, Tycho, Other Child's Play Workers,

I just want to say what you guys are doing is amazing. If there is any help I can provide for this project at Children's Hospital Oakland, I'll drive the hour it takes me to get there and do whatever volunteer work is needed.

Let me explain further, I have a personal stake in this. As as young boy I was in the hospital for 3 open-heart surgeries at ages 3, 5, and 9. All this went down right across the bay from Oakland at the UCSF medical center (maybe you can get there next year?). The first surgery, I was too young to recall, but the for other two, my fondest memories were of time spent with the "game carts" (for lack of a better word). A TV, with an original nintendo (cutting edge at the time), on a movable cart that kids in the pediatrics ward could book for timeslots. I still remember the original level of Bionic Commando, and the hours spent playing 1942. The opportunity to play videogames while stuck in bed, helped get me through an otherwise really crappy and arduous hospital stay. Another memory of mine is of the hospital waiting room on the morning before my 3rd operation. Another kid my age was nice enough to share his gameboy with me for a few minutes. RCProam is good for clearing one's head before facing your own mortality.

I did not help or even contribute last year, and today while reading over the newly relanched page, it hit me. I would be a hypocrite not to help, or at least offer it. I'm a gamer for life, always have been, always will be, and my hospital stays were one of the most responsible factors for that. Other hospital bound kids deserve the opportunity to play bigger, better, and generally more awesome videgoames than I did during my stays, and this is surely a means to that end.

Regards,
Matthew Merner