When Fanbase Press is not providing you with the latest in geek news and entertainment, the Fanbase staff hopes to offer our readers a myriad of opportunities to give back to the community. We love reading comics, watching movies, and playing video games, but we are never happier than when we are able to help others in need. With #GeeksCare: How You Can Help, Fanbase Press will provide you a variety of causes that would greatly appreciate your time.
In this week’s installment of #GeeksCare: How You Can Help, Fanbase Press would like to highlight Meghan Caves-Callarman who – for a second year in a row – is actively working to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease and the Alzheimer’s Association. Each year, the Alzheimer’s Association hosts The Longest Day, a team event that raises funds and awareness for the organization. This year, Caves will join Saving Throw for a 24-hour role-playing game fundraising event, with the proceeds from the event going to the Alzheimer’s Association. In the following interview, I chat with Caves about the mission behind The Longest Day, how viewers can watch, donate to, and interact with the 24-hour role-playing event, how to find out more information about the Alzheimer’s Association, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: This will be your second year supporting The Longest Day through Saving Throw’s fundraising event. For those who may be unfamiliar, what is the The Longest Day, and how does it help to raise awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association?
Meghan-Caves Callarman: Yes! It is my second year participating in The Longest Day. The basic idea behind holding this charity event on the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year, is that every day is the longest day for caretakers and those with Alzheimer’s. So, we do activities from sunrise to sunset on the longest day in honor of those struggling and to help raise funds and awareness.
BD: On June 23rd, Saving Throw will be hosting a 24-hour role-playing game fundraising event for The Longest Day. What are the ways that viewers may interact with the online event?
MCC: Great questions! You can watch our event on twitch.tv/savingthrowshow starting at 8 p.m./PDT on June 23rd running through 8 p.m. on June 24th. We will be playing 5 different RPGs, as well as a fun choose-your-own-adventure reading of Wizards, Warriors, and You at the end of the marathon! We will be taking donations on our The Longest Day team page on the Alzheimer’s Association’s website, and as our donations go up, fun things will be unlocked! Each show will have a set of tiered rewards that will unlock various different things for those games, such as rerolls for the players, or story events, and more! And we will have milestone goals that unlock as our total donations for the stream go up, too! So, as we hit higher numbers, more fun things will be happening. We will also have a ton of great giveaways! All you have to do it make a donation to enter the giveaways!
BD: An added element to Saving Throw’s charity stream this year will be the #EndAlz wall. How is the wall being utilized, and how may readers honor their loved ones who may have been diagnosed with or lost to Alzheimer’s?
MCC: On the Alzheimer’s Association’s social media pages, they encourage folks to post who they are fighting for on The Longest Day using the hashtag #ENDALZ. Alzheimer’s is a disease that people don’t often talk about, and it’s an isolating thing to go through for both the person with Alzheimer’s and the caretakers. The Alzheimer’s Association wants to connect people together and put a human face on this battle. At Saving Throw, I want to continue that cause, so we will be posting photos of loved ones who are struggling with the disease or who have been lost to it. I will also be sharing their stories, including my own, during the stream in between games. For anyone who would like to add their loved one to our wall, they can email me a photo of them and their story at meghan (at) savingthrowshow (dot) com.
BD: What are some of the rewards that are available to those who donate to Saving Throw’s event (before June 23rd)?
MCC: There will be overall milestones that will be unlocked as donations come in. When you watch Saving Throw on Twitch, you gain 1 gold per minute you watch. You can in turn use that gold to affect our games! One of the milestones will be gaining double, or even triple gold during the marathon! And we will have many more milestones to come! We will also be holding giveaways during each game with things like personalized player portraits from Brian Patterson of d20monkey.com, warrior dice from Polyhero Dice, a Pulp Cthulhu PDF from Chaosium, d20 string lights from ThinkGeek, gift cards from Drive Thru RPG, Deadlands Classic 20th Anniversary Edition books from Pinnacle Entertainment, and a ton more! To enter those giveaways, all you have to do is make a donation!
BD: For those that may not be able to participate in the role-playing event, are there other opportunities to donate or volunteer their time for The Longest Day?
MCC: The actual Longest Day is Wednesday, June 21st. There will be events all over the world happening for The Longest Day not only on that Wednesday, but during the days and weeks around it. You can find all sorts of events on the Alzheimer’s Association’s website, you can set up your own donation page, and more. The Longest Day is always taking donations whether or not the events are currently happening, so you can always make donations at anytime.
BD: Are there any other projects on which you are currently working that you would like to share with our readers?
MCC: At Saving Throw, we are constantly growing, adding content, and refining what we offer! I currently play in a few on going games/shows at Saving Throw including Black Bag: Vikings, our Call of Cthulhu game on Friday nights at 8 p.m. which alternates seasons with another game I play in, Wildcards, our Savage Worlds Deadlands Reloaded game. I also play in Miss Adventures, our all-female Harry Potter homebrew game which is currently on a season break, but it airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. And lastly, my husband Jordan Caves-Callarman and I play couch co-op video games on our show, Couples Therapy, on Mondays at 4 p.m./PDT. You can watch all of this at twitch.tv/savingthrowshow or catch up on old episodes on YouTube! And you can keep up with me and all my goings on via my website at meghancaves.com!
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell readers who want to learn more about Saving Throw, The Longest Day, and the Alzheimer’s Association?
MCC: If you’d like more information about Saving Throw, you can check out our website at savingthrowshow.com. For more information about The Longest Day, you can find that here, and for more information about the Alzheimer’s Association, check them out here: alz.org.
If you have a volunteer opportunity or an important cause that could use the assistance of a few geeks, please email the details to barbra (at) fanbasepress (dot) com.
