Over the last year, things have been changing here at Rare HQ. Many areas of the studio have been given a nip, tuck and facelift. Those areas in need of a little TLC have been rejuvenated. But our lovely new spaces meant that we were left with a lot of homeless furniture. Rather than stockpiling it for Bonfire Night, the furniture was sold off – raising nearly £800 which will now be donated to charity.
The decision of which charity to help with the money raised was left to the Rare Events Team, and they decided that SpecialEffect was the perfect choice. The ladies and gents of SpecialEffect dedicate themselves to using technology to enhance the quality of life of those living with disabilities, and much of this work revolves around giving them access to games!
With some very clever and impressive controller modifications, the organisation can give children with a wide range of disabilities the chance to play games and share the fun with friends and family. Whilst they’ve made excellent use of Kinect they also incorporate things like eye movement input, a variety of custom speech setups and heavily modified joysticks for children with specific needs such as playing using only their feet.
Mark from Special Effect had this to say:
“From the feedback we’ve been getting from the amazing people we support, it’s clear that we’re not just helping people to play games so they can pass some time. Helping people with disabilities play helps them to maintain and create social relationships, it helps keep their mental faculties active and satisfied, it builds confidence, and it assists with development and learning in younger people. This isn’t just about giving people a blast on Call of Duty or DiRT, it’s about giving them a whole new part of their life.”
So hopefully this donation will have a great effect on many people’s lives!
In further support of SpecialEffect, a five-a-side football team from Rare will be heading to Wembley Stadium’s Powerleague venue next month as one of 16 teams vying for the SpecialEffect Trophy…
If you’d like to learn more about SpecialEffect, please visit their website.
All this good news got us wondering what other charity efforts Rare staff were recently or imminently involved in, to so here’s a roundup:
Our Lead Environmental Artist Andria will be taking on the Robin Hood Half Marathon in Nottingham at the end of September in aid of Macmillan Cancer Care. Macmillan offer invaluable support for cancer sufferers and their families. It’s another great cause, so if you’d like to support Andria’s efforts, check out her JustGiving page.
2D Marketing & Promotional Artist Chucho recently donated his time and skills to help startup Fabrily create their website. Fabrily aim to help lots of independent organisations fundraise and create awareness of their causes – click through and see. Chucho was also one of Rare’s participants in Movember last year with some rather wonderful results (see below)!
And designer Gavin regularly tempts Rare cake-lovers (i.e. everyone at Rare) with delicious treats in exchange for donations to buy supplies for his local RSPCA branch. Your own local RSPCA shelter will undoubtedly also be in need of donations, so why not take a cue from Gavin and pick up some pet food or litter when you’re next out doing your weekly shop?
Great work all round!