Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:23:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Cathy Green <dalek_cag at yahoo.com> Subject: [WSFA] Re: charity and fandom To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> There's no reason why fandom can't have a charitable or service aspect. The Heinlein Society does a blooddrive at most worldcons and at all the Balticons I've attended. Dr. Who fanclubs in the NY area always used to man the phones during PBS fundraising drives and NY UNIT used to visit the childrens wards at local hospitals. A number of the Dr. Who fanclubs and fanzines also used to have an annual fundraising drive around Christmas to raise money for charities favored by Who stars (e.g. Colin Baker had lost a child to crib death and was an active supporter of several SIDS charities). So there's no reason why things couldn't be done. although I agree that mandatory charitable work would be a hard sell. But if we wanted to, I bet WSFA could easily work some sort of annual intraclub book and tschotschke sale with the money raised going to a designated charity. --Cathy __________________________________________________