The Star Wars Community Gives

As time goes on there is one striking thing that has impressed me about Star Wars, and it's a direct reflection of the Saga's creator, George Lucas. It's something that has been witnessed time and time again all over the world. It's a simple philosophy that became the basis of fan groups like the 501st Legion and the Rebel Legion. That is simply, Star Wars gives.

Star Wars gives.

To countless charities. 

To fans and children in need. 

To each other involved in the clubs or organizations.

I have learned over the last 2 years that I've been plugged back into the universe that Star Wars fans are some of the most generous fans out there. 

Look at the 501st Legion, Vader's Fist. In the Star Wars universe the 501st was the best of the best, Vader's personal legion he commanded through the Clone Wars and on into the Original Trilogy era. Now, the bad guys are the good guys. Founded by Albin Johnson, the members donate their time and resources for charities all over the world. Whether is making appearances at a child's birthday, to participating in fundraisers or running fundraisers, the men and women of Vader's Fist donated over 4.7 million hours of their own personal time, raising $168,988 through their own fundraisers, collecting almost 200,000 toys for underprivileged families, and they attended and participated in many different events that raised over $14 million!!!!! All of this, was done in 2012. What an impact!

Star Wars gives.


The Rebel Legion spun off from the 501st Legion. They are the good guys of the Saga. The Rebels, like the 501st, donate their time and efforts to charities as well. In a lot of cases, the Rebel Legion and the 501st Legion work together in their charitable efforts. 

Star Wars gives. 

If you want to see how Star Wars fans pull together to help their own, look no further than the story of R2-KT. The story of the pink astromech droid was built for and named after a little girl fighting a brain tumor. With parts donated from all over, R2-KT was built to comfort her in the end but the adventure didn't end there. R2-KT works charitable events with the 501st Legion. A reminder of a little girl's strength and love still going strong, doing good.

Another example of Star Wars fans helping out is through The Kessel Run, an 8 hour long live podcast/ Google Hangout all to raise funds for Rancho Obi-Wan, a non profit organization run by the ultimate collector, Steve Sansweet. Organized by MakingStarWars.net, the Kessel Run included hosts from multiple podcasts whose only connection is Star Wars. Participants included the hosts of Coffee With Kenobi, The Cantina Cast, The Star Wars Kidscast and many more. To top to off, for every $10 donated , a Star Wars book was donated to Operation Paperback, another non profit organization that collects books from around the country, and sends them to US troops worldwide, along with veterans and military families stateside. 

It's so simple, thousands of fans, globally, doing good to help others. That is what it means to be a Star Wars fan now. Thanks to groups like the 501st and Rebel Legion and more, Star Wars fandom means more than great movies and costumes. Discover it for yourself. You can learn more about the groups discussed at the links below:

The 501st Legion-- www.501st.com
The Rebel Legion-- www.rebellegion.com
R2-KT-- www.r2kt.com
Read about the Kessel Run podcast and it's participants at the official Star Wars Kessel Run Blog.

For now, do something good, help someone in need. It's a good thing. You will find it rewarding.

Live long and prosper,

May the Force be with you,

And may God bless you all richly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

Image
So my geek out blogs are usually about geek things: Star Wars, Star Trek, even a recent one was about Muppet Babies. I had every intention to sitting down and writing a blog about the wonders of the Star Wars community of fans....but after tonight, that has been placed on hold. Oh I'll write it eventually, but something happened tonight that made my day, my week, and my month. I'm talking about a date. Oh yes, I had a date. This was a special date too. I was able to spend the evening with my precious 6 year old daughter Kailynn. What an evening it was!!!! My wife went out for a girls night with a friend, so Kailynn and I went and had a wonderful dinner at Pizza Hut. She was so excited, cause she got to use a free pizza coupon she earned at school for reading some books (she has 2 more on the fridge, she LOVES reading). While we waited on the pizza, we played Hungry Hungry Hippo on my cellphone. We followed it up with ice cream at Dairy Queen and then we came home. Once we got
Read more

My MegaCon 2014 Experience

Image
So at the last minute, at the behest of my friend Robbie and his brother Angelo, I headed out Saturday morning for to the Orange County Convention Center to attend Megacon 2014. The announcement of my trip to Megacon scored more likes on Facebook than I expected and to be perfectly honest, I had no clue what to expect. Sure, I have been to several conventions....through my church...and they were nothing like this. So this was my first official con. Robbie and Angelo had attended several over the years, from Megacon to multiple Star Wars Celebrations. I had heard stories of conventions past, but to experience the excitement, craziness and pure fandom at a convention is unparalleled. Besides Robbie and Angelo, I knew no one. So Robbie picked me up early Saturday morning and off we went to Orlando. Angelo, being an active member in the Rebel Legion, was already over at the convention center attending to booth the Legion had set up. We arrived, thinking the convention started at 9 A.
Read more

My 2019 New Year's Resolutions

Since I missed New Years due to my social media break, it seems only right that my second blog back should be about my New Year’s resolutions. So with that, allow me to share what I have decided to do in 2019. Like most people I make resolutions each year, and like the majority of people, by February, I have failed miserably and have gone back to my old ways. Its happened way too many times for me to be comfortable with. I have always said I’m not a quitter but my track record with these resolutions would say otherwise. 
Read more