Well, the Foundation has made it through its first calendar year! In terms of activity, we’ve been able to start helping in a few ways.
1 – We’ve donated items to a couple of programs for underprivileged youth.
2 – We were able to contribute to a fund which provided historical sight-seeing opportunities for young people who would not otherwise be able to travel and see those sorts of things.
3 – We were able to help “Fort Circle Games” get a historical game able to be played by kids in junior high and high school into dozens of schools in and around the D.C. area.
On top of this, production on the Dietz Foundation’s own first game project is nearing completion with the factory in China preparing it to ship to the States before the end of this month. That’s “Three Years of War’ and it is a card-game about the 30 Years War accessible to everyone. After that, the Foundation has two other projects nearing completion and in final stages of testing with two others in early development stages. As per the Foundation’s goals, the profits from these will all go towards furthering education in the U.S. in some way, shape, or form!
So how can you help?
Have you considered making a direct donation to the Foundation? The Dietz Foundation is a registered 501-c-3 corporation which means whatever you give is usable as a tax deduction for this year. It’s an editorial comment here–but I think I’ll do more with any money you donate than the government will with it as part of what you pay in taxes. For every $5,000 (roughly) I receive, I’m able to endow a scholarship somewhere.
Now, some of you know I coach at a college (Lincoln Land). NONE, repeat NONE, of this will go to my school or benefit me. Any money donated goes directly into the scholarship fund–NONE of it will get used to pay the light bill or a salary for me or even into producing games or books. Nope–it will all go straight towards helping make college affordable for young people wanting to become students or to help teachers learn new, creative means of reaching students–not just with technology, but other things like games…like this example from the DF blog.
So please, here in the Christmas season, think about helping us help everyone. Great teachers are needed if we want to keep turning young people into great adults.