eBay Auctions for Child's Play

Here's the text of the letter I just sent off to the guys at Penny Arcade:

My name is Trisha L. Sebastian and I'm a Penny Arcade fan who has collected toys almost all her life. Circumstances have made it so that I can't keep my collection anymore, and I've been slowly auctioning them off on eBay over the last year or so. However, they aren't moving out of my small, cramped apartment fast enough for my liking and I wanted to be able to get rid of them all at one time.

At the same time, I've been an at-home campaigner for Child's Play ever since the charity began in 2003. For the last three years, I've asked my parents, sister, and extended family to refrain from buying me Christmas presents, but instead to buy toys for the children's hospitals on the Child's Play website. My story, as I've written into every eBay auction, is as follows:

"My own story is that when I was 11, I spent a week flat on my back recovering from surgery to repair a congenital kidney defect. Because both of my kidneys had been operated on, I couldn't use the facilities like a normal kid would and always had to have my arms restrained at night so that I would scratch out the stitches across my abdomen.

"One of the things I remember the most about my stay is that one day, all the ambulatory kids were gathered in the rec center because the hospital was throwing a party. I couldn't go because I was still confined to my bed, and things were pretty quiet in my room without the other kids in it. Then, I heard the sound of voices coming down the hallway, and a doctor dressed up as a clown lead a parade of kids to my room. They had balloons, and everyone was so happy. I remember smiling as the doctor handed me a new Barbie, saying that he had come to deliver it to me in person because he knew that I couldn't get out of my bed.

"I like to imagine that the money you will spend on these auctions can go towards purchasing a new Barbie for a bed-bound kid like I used to be."

I started putting items up last night (seller id: saucypackrat), and the auctions will end in 7 days. I would really love to see all of these items be sold, even if it's just at the minimum bids. I'm publicizing it on my LiveJournal, but if news of these auctions could find a wider audience, that would also be awesome.

Thank you, for creating such a wonderful and awesome charity!

I really, really want to help out the guys this year, and this is the best way I can think of doing it. Plus, a little extra good karma never hurt anyone.