Electronic Arts today announced that its casual gaming destination Pogo.com has teamed up with talk show host and philanthropist Rosie O’Donnell to launch their newest charitable program ‘Pogo Cares Benefiting Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation’. This two month program raises awareness within the vibrant Pogo.com community of 11 million players. Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation helps bring child care, education and happiness to America’s kids. With the help of its players, Pogo.com will donate $30K to the Foundation.
Players are invited to participate in several online events at Pogo.com. The first event in the Pogo Cares program is the “Play & Chat with Rosie Sweepstakes” where anyone who plays “Tumble Bees” between May 17th and May 23rd will automatically be entered into a random drawing for a chance to win an opportunity to play and chat live with Rosie O’Donnell during the month of June**. Winners will be announced at the conclusion of the Sweepstakes. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Eligibility restrictions apply. Complete Sweepstakes Official Rules can be found at:
http://pogo.com/rosie/rules-sweeps.jsp?site=pogoEA also announced that from May 22nd to July 17th Club Pogo players can collect special limited edition Rosie-designed items to customize their Pogo Minis, free of charge (Club Pogo subscription required). The Rosie-Mini Collection includes cool fashion t-shirts, sweatshirts, backgrounds and accessories.
Rosie O’Donnell stated, “
I played a lot of videogames as a kid and now I am an avid Club Pogo member and have been for quite awhile. I play Word Whomp, Tumble Bees, Poppit! Squelchies, Qwerty, and World Class Solitaire – I like to mix it up. I’m online almost every night! It is a great way to relax and stay in touch with people out of state. There is a grandmother in Kansas that I play with … she has no idea who I am. We talk for hours about her grandkids and her latest projects. I love it!”
Vice President and General Manager of Pogo, Karen Schulman commented, “
The Pogo community has a history of coming together to raise money and awareness to help those in need. We are very excited to work with Rosie O’Donnell and her ‘For All Kids’ Foundation to support causes that are important to Pogo players, such as education and early childhood development.”
EA launched its first Pogo Cares Program in 2001 with a campaign to help seriously ill children maintain a better life while going through medical treatment. Since then, the Pogo community has come together to support many other issues including: the fight against breast cancer and heart & lung health. In the last two years, Pogo players have successfully raised over $100,000 in charitable giving.
The Rosie's For All Kids Foundation was founded by Rosie in 1997, and has helped to build 27 day care centers in low- income areas. It has provided 24.6M in grants to over 900 child-related programs. More recently, the Foundation invested $3M to help children and their families in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and built the first-of-its-kind Children's Plaza and Family Center on the largest FEMA trailer park in Louisiana. The Foundation will provide ongoing support to the Center. O'Donnell has long been a child advocate -- especially in the areas of early childhood education, foster care and adoption -- and the Foundation will now support a Foster Care and Adoption Advocacy program in Washington DC to help bring about reforms in child care policy in the Congress.
