I had a chance to meet a true gamer during the GTR event, two weeks ago, who goes by the gamertag of Raging Jelly Bean. She sat with, my wife, my son, Feelz_Good, Ooopy, and me during lunch to talk about video games. Regardless of the system, she was on point with her knowledge about those consoles and their games. I was truly impressed and happy to chitchat about the one thing that brought us all together, that weekend. During this entire conversation, I never would have known that "Beanie" was in need of a life-saving kidney transplant.

RJB with Godfree


That is why I am posting this here, because I know that the Talkingaboutgames.com community understands the severity of this situation and might be willing to help in any way possible. We are all gamers and part of the same community, so lets unite like Voltron and show RJB that the Talkingaboutgames.com community cares for her well-being.

Thank you,

JVB



G4O is pleased to announce the Help RagingJellyBean Finish the Fight Tournament, sponsored by the Femmes Fatales. "Beanie" is a gamer in need of a life-saving kidney transplant. Without insurance to help her she needs the funds to get her needed surgery and aftercare. We are honored to be helping RJB with this endeavor.

There are two Halo3 events running, Free For All and 4x4 Team Slayer. and here's a summary of how this event will work.

o Each gamer will be charged $10 to enter.
o FFA matches are based 6 players, top 3 advance.
o Team matches are based on 4vs4 teams, best of three.
o Event is March 22, 2008, begins at 2 p.m. EST
o Prizes for all winners! TBA

If you are not able to participate in the tournament but would like to make a donation link is available. All payments will go directly into the RJB Charity Paypal account.

For more information on this event please visit the Gaming4others forum.

Thanks JVB for this post. Jellybean drove 2 1/2 hours each way (just to meet me in FT Lauderdale - I drove the remainder to Miami) and I would have never known that she was in dire need for a transplant. She was engaging and a pleasure to be around. She undergoes dialysis 3x a week and this is extremely hard on her system. If you haven't read the articles about her, you'll find them here.

Link
Stories on JellyBean

When Gaming4others was approached to do this event and heard the challenges facing JellyBean we knew this was something we wanted to do. No person should be denied a kidney (even being on the wait list) because they don't have the funds to pay for aftercare.

If nothing else, I'd like you all to stop and be thankful for your health, and the health of your loved ones. Because after you read something like this you truly realized how blessed we are.

Pictures from the GTR event with Jellybean

Godfree and Jellybean on stage

Godfree and Jellybean

Jellybean trying her hand at Rockband

Jellybean and PMS Harlequin

Jellybean at dinner with GTR staff and TeamHitman

Very cool JVB. I hope it works out with her situation!! Everyone should support this!!

Nice job Guys, I always love to here the feel good story.This is a great Community,I'm sure we will alldo our Part.

Thanks for posting about this, JVB. There may be a way I can help - check for a PM from me.

I have to thank people of TAG for hitting up myself and JVB about this event and situation.

Gaming4others was something that was started to just do that. I see people do walk-a-thons, door to door canvasing to help awareness as well as help support causes they believe in. Why not do the same thing and use the gaming community to help spread the word and make others aware of things. Gamers are portrayed as a certain type of person (very highly sterotyped and not necessarily in the positive light) and it takes us the gaming communities to show others that we more than that.

Jellybean's plight is not the only one out there, there are many more and we as gamers have a voice and hearts to show what we can do.

As a side note and something that JVB and Vicious696 are well aware of, if anyone has a charity they are doing and needs PR for it let G4O know as we will be not only promoting our own, but any site that needs help with theirs. And if know of a charity that needs help and support, please contact myself or even JVB and we can see if we can do something to support it.

Great post JVB! I'm glad we can use the forums for a positive. I like the community for gaming news and opinions, and now helping with a charity events is the total package! haha. keep it up.

I've posted this info to Anandtech Forums , my gaming website , bungie.net and my twitter.

I also sent Major Nelson a note, but looks like he wont be checking email till after the event.

Not sure who actually participated, but they were able to raise the money needed... almost $2k total. RJB will be getting on the list, hopefully by the end of April.