What an incredible year it’s been for Eternal Kingdom!
We finished off the year with our 2nd annual 24 hour stream-a-thon fundraiser for Toys for Tots in the only way we know how: as a community. Over a 24 hour timespan, 19 teams completed 371 free Mythic+ Keystone carries for players from numerous realms and from around the globe. We made new friends and laughed with old ones. We fell asleep, sometimes we got angry, but mostly we laughed and spread holiday cheer and goodwill. Due to the generosity of our Twitch viewers/donors, we raised over $2,000 this year for Toys for Tots!
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It’s an exciting time to be a part of Eternal Kingdom, and I am forever grateful to have been given the opportunity to help it grow this past year. I’ve told this story before, but I’ll briefly tell it again: I was a trial in Eternal Kingdom during last year’s fundraiser. Late in the evening someone asked in guild chat for a healer to help with carries, nervously I volunteered. I remember sitting at the end of a Maw of Souls thinking “I could really do this. I could really do something I love and help people.” It stuck with me. I told my mom about it.
When the position opened up a few months later, I applied. I was warned by Zate and Belisyma that I needed to have a plan if I wanted to go through with this. Not continuing Toys for Tots wasn’t an option. It’s a hallmark of our community, and I’d like to think that over this past year fundraising and charity has become a greater staple of what Eternal Kingdom means. Step by step, I made it my mission to use Eternal Kingdom to make the world a better place. Through the laugher, the anger, and sometimes even the tears, I believed in Zate’s mission.
I digress. Toys for Tots and the Eternal Kingdom community are much larger than I am, much larger than any single individual. Even if I had worked around the clock since last December I still could not have pulled this off without assistance from some of the most amazing, generous, and willing to help people I’ve ever met in my life.
I’d like to take this time to highlight and thank several people who I worked closely with this year, but in no means does this list meant to exclude anyone. Several hundred people helped pull this off, and I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart.
Siin (who has since returned), thank you for inspiring me last year and having exceptional organizational skills and the drive to get grunt work done ASAP without question, while always maintaining excellent professionalism.
Leayha, thank you for being you. For always being my ear, my rock, my sense of reason. You are such a delight and a highlight of Eternal Kingdom for me. My working relationship with you has gone beyond that, and I am so proud to say I consider you one of my very best friends.
Seryniti, thank you for surprising me! I always knew you were intelligent, capable, and knew how to do a lot of things I didn’t. More than anyone else, you have absolutely blown me away this year. Your eagerness and willingness to put in money and countless hours of hard work, even for things I never asked for, is so inspiring to me. I hope that one day I can be more like you, I genuinely have too many nice things to say about you. What is insane is that at the time of this writing I know you’re working on even more promotional media stuff for this event, just gearing up for next year and celebrating our success this year.
Zeboot, thank you for asking me if I needed help with OBS last winter. Getting to know you has been a highlight of my life. You impress me constantly with how “tech savvy” you are, and I hope all of your hard work (so often behind the scenes) on the infrastructure of this fundraiser is impressive to others as well.
Thank you to all of our Spreadsheet Coordinators who worked in shifts around the clock for 24 hours: Leayha, Xanari, MissErynn, Siin, Snowmantle, Daraya, Sleepy, and Sansie. Your work needs to be at the forefront here, because the fundraiser literally would not happen without your coordination behind the scenes. A special thank you to Majestas as well who intended to be a Spreadsheet Coordinator, but fell ill the weekend of the event.
Thank you to our Twitch moderators Seryniti and Daraya, you both are always so happy to help and love doing what you do. It’s such a delight to work with both of you.
Hantevirus, Zate, and Belisyma, thank you all for always supporting me and believing in my vision. Being there when I need you (and not overstepping when I don’t) has been such an awesome experience of trust, and I feel so honored to know each of you and work closely with you year round.
Despite the t-shirt not working out, thank you Nyésia for designing the contest flyer, Steine for designing the t-shirt, Leayha, Zeboot, Majestas, and Zate for their input and assistance, and everyone who submitted t-shirt entries for the t-shirt contest.
Special thanks to our friends in Method, Seraph, and Limit for the promotion and media coverage, as well as Dravvie of Running of the Gnomes (your guidance really pumped me up for the weekend!), Panser of TradeChat, Magdalena of Acherus, and so many more.
Key Carriers, you are the heart of this fundraiser. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the hours you spent helping others, promoting our cause, and making the world a better place.
Last, but definitely not least, thank you to all of our donors whose money will go toward brightening the holiday season for children whose families (or lack of) needed a little help this year. Brightening a child’s day is just about one of the best things a human being could do.
As of this writing, Eternal Kingdom has raised over $10,000 for various charities. I cannot wait to see what we’re capable of in 2018… let’s make the world a better place!
Inri the Druid
Director of Community Coordination
<Eternal Kingdom> US-Proudmoore
In memory of Lillynna, 1970-2017
Thank you for starting something amazing.
We will never forget your drive to spread positivity and happiness.
May you live in our hearts forever.
