Today Ginny announced the campaign that we’ve been conspiring about for the past couple of weeks – an effort to raise $10,000 to get the kids at Children’s Hospital a kick-ass game room and take their minds off whatever ails them, even for a short amount of time. It all kicks off this weekend at her husband’s restaurant Las Velas, with a percentage of the evening’s proceeds being donated to the cause.

My company WearPittsburgh is also doing its part by donating 20% of the sales of any t-shirts to this effort (name/logo forthcoming) until the goal of $10,000 is reached.  I’m also reaching out to some contacts I have in the tech industry to see if we can get some new equipment donated for the cause.

While you are out on Saturday, you should definitely check out another great event happening at Altar Bar that is helping to support the efforts of two Ben Avon sisters who risk their lives as VOLUNTEERS to help children at an orphanage in the western hemisphere’s poorest country of Haiti.  This is a wonderful cause and please, if you can, drop by and support these two amazing and inspiring women. Both events are on Saturday from 6-9 PM, so go to one for a while and then mosey over to the second.

I’m grateful that I’m able to be a part of this effort with Ginny, who has kept this cause of helping sick children front-and-center and been the real champion getting the Lemieux Foundation and other parties involved. We also had an outpouring of support from people wanting to be involved when we first started thinking about this – you are the reason why Pittsburgh is a great place to live.

We’ll have more details about how you can give if you can’t make the Las Velas event real soon. I have no doubt the kind and generous people of Pittsburgh will help us reach our goal and bring some (Super Mario) Sunshine to those children who could use it.

So, many of the eyes who have fallen upon these words have also been over to Michelle’s blog or Twitter stream and will not find this to be anything new. For those who haven’t seen it, then it’s new to you!

If there’s one thing I know –  when Burgh Baby runs a no-huddle fundraiser to benefit anyone, it’s one hell of a two-minute drill.  She takes a cause, even something which should need no convincing to motivate you to donate, and makes it even more meaningful and personal for her and for you.

The cause this time? Getting toys for kids that won’t have anything under the tree – or, hell, might not even have a tree at all.

She’s already exceeded her goal of $1,000 and did it in record time – but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any more kids that could use your help.

Give. Please.