GamesAid Members Select Five Charities To Receive £20K Each

UK-based gaming industry charity GamesAid on Friday unveiled five charities aimed at children and young people that will each receive a donation of £20,000 ($27,900), a 76 percent year-on-year increase. The five charities receiving the donations are Action for Kids, a group focused on helping children with physical and learning disabilities; Families Need Fathers, a social care organization; SpecialEffect, which helps young disabled people enjoy video games; The Willow Foundation, a charity for seriously ill 16 to 40-year-olds; and Volunteer Centre Sutton: MAPS, a child mentoring service. GamesAid members voted on which charities would receive the donations. The organization said that the donations -- from multiple UK charity events -- are in addition to the funding given this year to the UK game industry-funded Paddington Academy, whose donations came from sales of this year's PS3 Triple Pack charity game bundle. "It is especially pleasing to see that the members of GamesAid have once again voted to make this a completely democratic decision," said GamesAid chairman Andy Payne. "We look forward to working closely with these charities in the forthcoming year and ensuring we update the members and the industry in general on all their fantastic efforts, as we do every year." He added, "It’s a real shame that there had to be three charities that missed out. The voting was so close this year, we would encourage everyone to pitch in, join GamesAid and have their say going forward." GamesAid accepts donations any time at the JustGiving website.