Every hobby and interest group should have its own pet charity. For hackers, it's the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For comic book fans it's The Hero Initiative (which supports aging comic creators fallen on hard times). For gamers, more and more, it's Child's Play.
Founded by Gabe and Tycho — those two maestros of video-game inspired comic strips at Penny Arcade — Child's Play gives games, toys, books and money to sick kids. They work through hospitals around the world, who provide them with wish lists from their needy patients.
This article appears in Jan 14-20, 2009.