Kallisti IV has been mighty record-breaking: 10 prominent guests (without John de Lancie), over 30 participating artists, over 80 completed requests, and over 240 viewers during the peak hours!

All of this—including the almost $4800 raised for GalaCon and Child Need Africa’s Permanent Income for the Clinic project—was thanks to community members and GalaCon, Ponyville FM and Ponyville Live, and viewers like you. Thank you for coming together to undertake 24 hours of art, songs, shenanigans, and interviews for pony and charity alike.

Now please, without further ado, enjoy some art!

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Charity in the Bay with BABSCon

That’s right folks! We’ll be working with the intrepid folks from Bay Area Brony Spectacular on a fantastic selection of charitable programming this April! This includes a charity auction benefiting the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and SF Suicide, the hosting of a mobile adoption center with Peninsula Humane, and more! You can also visit us at our fan table, where you’ll be able to donate to the ongoing Seeds of Kindness 3 initiative and our newest charitable beneficiary, Community Grows!

Community Grows is San Francisco based nonprofit dedicated to the cultivation of healthy youth through the growing of gardens in low-income, diverse communities. These gardens and parks are situated in SF’s urban center, where staff work with at-risk youth to provide food, environmental education, and skills training free of charge to kids aged five to nineteen.

You have plenty of options to support these amazing organizations and their worthwhile efforts. You can stop by our table to place a donation, adopt a pet at the Mobile Adoption Center on Friday 1–4 p.m., participate in the charity auction, and more! Or, if you’re short on funds, you can support us directly by volunteering with us during BABSCon! In return for your time, you’ll receive a discounted price on your admission, acquire some sweet BfG swag, and enjoy an enriching experience working with our staff.

Be sure to check out our volunteer page to apply!

If you have yet to check ’em out, head on over to www.babscon.com to preregister while you still can! Till then, stay fluffy, everyone!

Volunteering with Another Hope

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Seeds of Kindness funded an orphanage building and a support project for the NGO Another Hope. Since then, the children have moved into their new home and the support project, a guest house, is about to be finished as well.

What Another Hope is looking for now are more volunteers who would like to help at the site of the orphanage in one of the following ways.

They are looking for people with experience in providing basic childcare, for example, making sure that the children bathe, brush their teeth, and wear clean clothes. They could also use support in the area of sports and other recreation for the children.

Furthermore, they need support for construction work, for example, for a the perimeter wall, permanent offices, and the vocational school that they are planning to start.

They also need volunteers who can provide training, assessments, and assistance in the area of basic health care, be it only simple tasks as putting bandages on scraped knees or giving classes on avoiding dehydration. Qualified physicians are particularly needed for community health outreach programs.

In addition, monetary donations directly to Another Hope and experience in fundraising are of course also always welcome.

More details as well as contact data can be found in their freshly updated volunteer manual and on their website. If you are interested in volunteering for the orphanage, please get in touch with Another Hope directly.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, has left a terrible trail of destruction across the Central Philippines. The provincial capital of Leyte, Tacloban, was almost completely devastated with estimated fatalities reaching well over 10,000 individuals. Needless to say, the destruction alone has left thousands without access to even the basic necessities of food, shelter, medicine, and clean drinking water.

As part of the general disaster relief efforts responding to the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, Bronies for Good and the Brony Thank You Fund have teamed up to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity’s Disaster Response Fund. Monies from this fund will go to the provisioning of emergency shelter kits to victims requiring immediate short-term shelter and long term reconstruction efforts.

To participate, head on over to the Brony Thank You Fund’s eBay Giving Works page to donate directly to the fund, or to donate or bid on items that will have varying portions of proceeds allocated for disaster relief. All collected donations will be sent as an aggregate via the BTYF to Habitat for Humanity’s Disaster Response Fund. Further ways to lend support to other first response organizations can be found here.

What a lovely and beautiful, campfire-laden Kallisti that was.

And like all great online campfire parties, we have the presence of wonderful folks like you to thank for the success of latest 24-hour round of funtastic shenanigans, sleep deprivation, show staff interviews, and callous art production for Kallisti III. Overall, we managed to raise a toasty $2,452 in donations for GalaCon and the German Branch of Engineers Without Borders! Although we did not beat out the total of the second Kallisti livestream telethon (still standing at $7,017), we did end up beating out the $2000 total from the original Kallisti.

As always, a massive thanks to our guests, contributing artists, moderators, hosts, and dedicated livestream crew for operating the stream and keeping us all warm! We also owe very special thanks to every last donor and participant who helped make Kallisti III a success! Regardless of whether you gave $1 or $1000, you gave us the privilege and honor of making Kallisti the event we’ve all come to cherish.

And be sure to keep an eye out for Kallisti IV as we all take advantage of the sweltering, relaxation-filled summertime!

Side Notes

If you missed any of the interviews that took place during Kallisti III, fear not! Celestia Radio has you covered with high-quality recordings of the interviews on their YouTube channel.

And lastly, our fundraising page is still open for the Kallisti III event if you’d like to support the efforts of everyone involved.

Now Have Some Art!

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Today we concluded Kallisti 2 – the 24 hour livestream consisting of back-to-back awesome guests from both the show and the fandom alike. We had interviews, as well as numerous talented fan artists drawing live for all to see. All in all, it was a massive success.

Coming in at $7017 raised for both GalaCon, and Seeds of Kindness 2 , the second Kallisti livestream telethon beat the original Kallisti event by over $5,000! We’d like to extend our most heartfelt thanks to all of our wonderful guests, contributing artists, moderators, and the dedicated livestream crew that kept the stream running smoothly for the duration of the 24 hour event! We also owe very special thanks to every last donor and participant who helped make Kallisti 2 a smashing success! Regardless of whether you gave $1 or $1000 you really exemplified the Element of Generosity and did our fandom proud!

Although Kallisti 2 has come to a close, we look forward to seeing everyone again when Kallisti 3 rolls around and hope to see some new faces as well. We believe we can break our record again. With the help of the fan community, the show’s staff, and the all around amazing individuals who donated their valuable time and money, Kallisti 2 was a phenomenal success, and we are confident that we can do it again. More importantly, that you can do it again!
Side notes:
If you missed any of the interviews that took place during tKallisti 2, fear not! Celestia Radio has you covered with high-quality recordings of the interviews on their YouTube page.

The Canni plush that was also being auctioned as part of Kallisti 2 is still available for bidding, so feel free place a bid here if you’d like your chance at this event-exclusive, high quality plush.

And lastly, our fundraising page is still open for the Kallisti II event if you’d like to support the efforts of everyone involved.

With everything being said, please enjoy the artwork that was produced during the livestream:

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Love and generosity are concepts that have the potential to transform the world. One need not look further than the original Seeds of Kindness project to see what we as a united community have been able to do when we direct such concepts to the betterment of our brothers and sisters the world over.

Since there’s no reason to ever halt such enriching practices, let’s cultivate those initial Seeds of Kindness into strong and beautiful plants of altruism!

Terrific agrarian puns aside, it is our great pleasure to announce the launch of the second phase of our Seeds of Kindness Project: Seeds of Kindness 2: Faithful and Strong! On Sunday September 23rd, a link to donate will be released, and the full album will be streamed on Everfree, Fillydelphia, Celestia and Everypony Radio at 11 a.m PST. Every donor will get to download the complete album, and all proceeds will go in their entirety to the Safe Project, an orphanage in Uganda that will become financially independent through the establishment of a chicken farm.

Moreover, the most generous donors by December 25th will receive unique hand-crafted Christmas gifts donated by artists from the community. You can find the full list of prizes HERE.

 

As this marks the end of the first iteration of Seeds of Kindness, it is time to do a report on what you all accomplished.  All in all, counting the various gaming streams and the Galacon auctions, over €47,000 ($60,000) have been raised! An orphanage is Tanzania is about to be expanded with a poultry farm to guarantee its sustenance. The Green Village for street children in Burundi is now being expanded as we speak, and we just received these fresh pictures only a couple days ago:

Last but not least, the clinic in Uganda is now in its final stages, and we are waiting for pictures of it fully equipped very soon. In the mean time, in case you missed it, this heartwarming open letter to the pony fan community from Lisa Wiese, founder of Your Siblings, also includes video footage from the completed building:

Now, let’s go do some good in the world!

Love and Solidarity,

The Bronies for Good Team.

You can learn more about our non-profit partner Your Siblings, in their FAQ—it’s a good read. Sustainability, transparency, local roots, need, and urgency are their primary criteria, ensuring that they only support the projects with the strongest long-term impact. Moreover, their policy is to cover all travel and personal costs as well as money transfer fees independently from donations, so that 100% of what you give will be spent exclusively on the projects.

Hey Everyone! We just wanted to make a quick follow up post to some initial feedback that we’ve had in Nurse RedHeart’s Round Up, so have this awesome art of Nurse herself and be sure check out the information below!

We’ve recently had a great question brought up, “Would donating platelets count towards the drive?” And the answer is, absolutely yes!

Donating Platelets (Or White Blood Cells) is a type of blood donation that only extracts one part of the blood you donate. When you donate normally, you give what is known as “whole” blood, (both your various blood cells and plasma), which is what is used in blood transfusions or other life-saving procedures. However, when you donate platelets, your blood is drawn through a needle to a centrifuge that separates the Platelets from your “whole blood.” The remaining blood product is the returned to your body through another needle connected to your other arm.

Just as with regular blood donations, you also must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds to qualify as a candidate. You also need to be sure that you are in good health to maximize the amount of Platelets that you can donate.

So instead of counting this a normal unit-based donation within the drive, we ask that you specify that you donated platelets on your post to Bronies for the Better so that we can start off a separate tally of that as well.

Now for a few responses to other common questions we’ve been getting:

 “Can I still be a part of the raffle if I am in Europe?”

Yes, you are also eligible for the raffle. Just be sure to follow the instructions on posting, and you shall be counted into the raffle!

“Will enlisting and working as a blood drive or site volunteer during the span of the NHH event make you eligible for the raffle?”  

Yes, but you will need to show us some sort of proof of this, such as a registration confirmation, or an account of your volunteering experience from a verifiable blood drive initiative in your community.

“Can I make multiple entries into the raffle if I donate and volunteer at a blood drive event in my community?”

No, even if you do both, we will only be allowing one entry per person.

That’s it for now everyone. Be sure to donate if you can and as always, take care!

Love and Solidarity,

Bronies for Good.

Nurse Redheart’s Round Up – The Reboot!

So about a year ago back when we at Bronies for Good had first started organizing, we put together one relatively small project called “Nurse Red Heart’s Round-Up”. This endeavour was essentially a brony blood drive that encouraged bronies to go out and donate blood to their local blood donation sites. The project was our first attempt at a community wide effort. By the end of the project, we were able to confirm the donation of 17 liters of blood by bronies across the country to local blood banks, hospitals, or to organizations such as the Red Cross.

Well, a year has passed since this donation drive took place and seeing as how there was quite a bit of enthusiasm for it last time, we’ve decided to make this drive an annual event. So, without further pause, we would like to announce the official reboot of Nurse Red Heart’s Round-up blood drive!

HOW TO DONATE! 

Like the previous drive, we’ll be asking you to take some time out of your schedule this September to go donate blood! But this time, you’ll be eligible for a mini-raffle that we’re holding to help reach our donation goal of 100 liters! So if you’re among the brave and willing, here is how you can participate in the blood drive and be eligible for our mini-raffle:

First and foremost, you’ll need to locate a donation site. If you are in the US, a good place to start would be by locating and getting in contact with your local Red Cross or United Blood Services chapter, or equivalent institution (i.e. UCLA medical center). They should be able to accommodate for your donation, or at least provide a link to any local event or site from where you can donate. If you are, for some reason, unable to establish any sort of rapport with these organizations, you can try inquiring at your local hospital to see if they are available to take blood donations. Once you have your location set, then you’ll need to arrange an appointment as if you were going in for any regular doctor’s visit.

Once you have your appointment and location set, you’ll need to make sure undertake some minor preparations for the screening and donation process. Therefore, we recommend taking a look at this online guide from the Red cross, so that way you can set yourself for a successful donation experience.

HOW TO QUALIFY FOR THE RAFFLE!

Now to get into the raffle, you’ll need to send us proof that you have made a confirmed blood donation. You can do this by submitting a post on the
on the Bronies for the Better Tumblr with the subject [NHH Donation], the date, location of your donation along with the amount donated. You will also have to include either a brief message detailing your experience during the donation or a photo of yourself and your dapper bandage! We’ll then undertake a randomized selection process to select winners for the raffle prizes we’ll have up for grabs.

If you have donated within the last 2 weeks of the official launch of Nurse Red Heart’s Round-up, then just follow the instructions detailed above and you’ll still be eligible for the raffle and be a part of the amount collected so far in the drive.

So With that said everyone, go make some appointments, donate some blood and help save some lives!

-Bronies for Good & Collaborators.

For any further questions, concerns, comments or suggestions about the drive, raffle or how to get involved, please feel free to email us at [email protected].

Hey Everyone!

We like to announce that Bronies for Good, in collaboration with Mic the Microphone, Fillydelphia Radio, and others are going to be hosting a fundraising live-stream even on July 27th from 12:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M PST. This stream will involve all manners of video gaming, , interviews with artists, community members and others (including an exclusive interview with Peter New, the VA of Big Mic). The proceeds will be going to help fully fund the Orphanage project and chicken farm in Uganda, which is the next phase of the Seeds of Kindness charity project!

http://yoursiblings.org/projects/another-hope/details

During the scheduled programming of the event, we will also be holding a free-entry steam game raffle (with over $5500 worth of steam games, courtesy of Mic the Microphone) for all individuals who tune into the live-stream with a valid live-stream and steam account. We will also be having special prize giveaways (Artist commissions, steam bundles, and much more) for those event attendees that donate certain amounts of money to the SoK fundraiser. So, even if you don’t end up contributing (but please do it you can!), it should be one heck of a show!

So with that said, please refer to Mic the Microphone’s tumblr blog (linked below) for the relevant information, instructions, and general structure of the event. Lastly, be sure to check back here or on Mic’s Tumbler for additional updates or announced changes to the stream along with the necessary link’s you’ll guys need to properly tune into the event when the time comes. In the mean time:

Love and Solidarity comrades!

Bronies for Good.