Play2Win Delivers on It’s Promise

March 14, 2012 No Comments

Two of this weeks guests at our Kiwanis dinner and meeting were Jamie Jones and his son Cameron. The Kiwanis Club of Orleans had given them $500 for their initiative Play2Win. The money to be used to buy new, modern board games for CHEO‘s 10+ game rooms. Tonight they presented what they had purchased with the money.

Over 20 games, for all ages, including some that can be played solitaire, for those who might be bed ridden or not be able to make it to one of the game rooms. CHEO also specifically asked for Wiimote controllers, which they also included with this haul… one pink and one white!

The Play2Win initiative has exceeded their wildest expectation. Thanks to the generous Orleans Kiwanis kick-starter combined with a heavily discounted initiative by an online store in Toronto called Meeplemart, games have been donated from as far away as the US, North Bay and beyond! Games were also donated at the Ottawa Games Summit and even game designers from The Game Artisans of Canada got involved and donated some of their newly designed games!

The day before our meeting Cameron was greeted at the door with two large boxes weighing over 50lbs, all full of games bought through Meeplemart and shipped directly to him at home, all for CHEO.

Rumor has it that the main Ottawa Board Game Club is also actively soliciting funds and games for the Play2Win initiative, which now exceeds 70+ games, or about 7 new games per room. Jamie was asked if he plans to expand or continue this amazing drive for other hospitals or facilities and he quite frankly admitted that it has grown much, MUCH bigger than he had anticipated.

An ongoing list of most of the known donated games can be seen here.

Jaimie and Cameron had originally planned just to quietly donate a couple of games to CHEO, paid for out of their pocket. A couple of his friends from the Orleans Game Group wanted to also contribute, and one of them contacted Kiwanis on his behalf. Then the other gaming clubs in the area, and beyond, have now got wind of it and the results are speaking for themselves…

Cameron and his brother Trevor with their dog Elvis in front of 70+ donated games

As a thank you to the Kiwanis Club of Orleans, Jamie passed around a bag of specially engraved dice asking everyone to take a set of two. He explained that the dice are a way of saying thank you. The Play2Win initiative was started by of Cameron and his battle with cancer. Cameron is rolling the dice with Chemotherapy, Playing 2 Win, and he doesn’t plan to lose.