Charity

A very good friend of mine, one of the producers of Battlestar Galactica, lost her father last week to Cancer.

You all know my penchant for helping cancer agencies raise awareness and money but this time I would like to go in a different direction. She sat with her father for a few weeks in the palliative care unit of Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, she said the care was exceptional, the nurses tremendous, loving, caring and sweet. Anyone who has sat in a hospital day after day with a loved one who is seriously ill knows how tedious and boring it can become. Lions Gate Hospital has in-room televisions but cable is $15 per day. That does not sound like much but if you are there for a few weeks it adds up quickly. So I had an idea, portable DVD players and a library of DVD’s for patients and their loved ones. So I am going to start a DVD drive. New ones, used ones, whatever you have. I know I have dozens of DVD’s on my shelf that I will never use again, won at the pub and will never watch or was given and will never watch again…. Battlefield Earth…. ugh….. ;-) I am going to start with Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, fill it up and move to another. I am going to contact several of the electronic companies and see if anyone is in the mood to donate 15 (there are 15 rooms in the palliative care ward) portable DVD players in exchange for some press from me. As for you, the incredible fans, if you send me a DVD donation with a self addressed stamped return envelope (large enough for an 8X10) I will send you a signed Battlestar Galactica Chief picture or a new shot of me on The Bridge (man in uniform…ha). So grab something off your shelf, out of the dollar bin at Walmart, steal if from your little brother… ok don’t do that… steal one from Lowenthal, he can afford it and send it to me. I will collect them all, give them to my friend and she will build a library for the hospital.

Thanks everyone, I know you get bombarded with donation requests but at least with this one you’ll get something back. Just tell me which pic you would prefer.

Send to me at:
Aaron Douglas
C/O Pacific Artists
685-1285 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
Canada
V6H3X8

EDIT: If you are outside USA/Canada, yes you can donate DVDs. I believe the portable dvd players will be multi-region players.

And if anyone has a contact with one of the manufacturers of these types of products let me know. I am thinking SONY or Panasonic or some company like that.

EDIT #2: Update on SSAE (Stamped Self-Addressed Envelope). pipsi_pirate went to a Post Office in Canada to ask out about SSAE. This is what she found out ….. “looks like IRCs are the only way to go – there is no way that canada post will accept foreign stamps :(“

EDIT #3: Reading this again I feel that it appears as though this was wholly my idea. I want to clarify something which I did not include in the first posting. I left out the name of my friend and her father with the notion that I was protecting her and her family from the public knowing personal stuff about them. I did not check with my friend about this and I have found out I was wrong to leave them out. She wants to do this for the hospital in the name of her father, a great man named Richard McArthur. The germ of this idea, the DVD players, the library, etc was the idea of his daughter and my friend Sian. We talked about that idea and came up with the rest of the plan. Other than that the only thing I contributed was taking it to my generous and amazing fans. So, if anyone asks what this is about please tell them that you are doing it for the legacy of Richard McArthur, a wonderful man and father.

Thanks

;-)