WildTangent Gives Back Through WildCoins for Kids

WildCoins for Kids is our way of helping others through donating netbooks to children around the world. We visit hospitals, orphanages and charity foundations to deliver netbooks loaded with games and productivity software to kids. David Worle, WildTangent VP of Business Development and Content Acquisition, recently visited the Mogilev Oblast Regional Hospital in Belarus. You can read a note from David below about his amazing experience and visit the donation page for WildCoins for Kids here.

Dave, Valeria; age 5, Matvei; age 14, Yana; age 13, Tatiana; age 12

I was recently on my third trip to the Ukraine to attend the Casual Connect gaming conference in Kiev. Every year we meet with developers from Eastern Europe who make many of the games people play on the WildTangent Games App. We also take this opportunity to visit children in a hospital just north of the city that specializes in Thyroid Cancer. It is estimated that 65% of the fallout from the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl landed in the Ukraine and Belarus, where the cancer rates are astronomically high, especially in children. For the past three years we’ve made a visit to this hospital with the help of an interpreter from one of our gaming partners, Absolutist. Each year we have been fortunate enough to donate computers directly to children in the cancer ward at this hospital. I am reminded each year by the hospital staff as well as the children how these gifts are beyond appreciated.

Oleg, President of Awem, and Valeria

This year was different because I extended my trip by several days and traveled to Belarus to visit the Mogilev Oblast Regional Hospital. I traveled to this hospital to visit four children who are diagnosed with Acute Leukemia and have families who are struggling to make ends meet due to the healthcare burdens. I was joined on this trip by the president and employees of Awem, another one of our great partners. Without fail, the children I met were all amazingly bright and engaging. There is always one junior salesperson in the group who asks me all about WildTangent and the United States. To say they are charmers is a huge understatement. While there was a communication barrier, we did all speak the common language of computer gaming. Every healthcare professional I encountered spoke to me of the huge importance of keeping the children happy during their treatment sessions. I can guarantee playing computer games gets their excitement levels cranked up! One little boy who was about six years old kept excitedly shouting a word in Russian that I later learned meant “cars.” He was thrilled to see a racing game on the computer we gave him.

When I left the hospital, a 5-year-old named Valeria who had curly blonde braided hair looked up at her father and asked him where her computer was. I believe her father had to procure the package before she let them take her out the door because she was going nowhere without it! I truly hope that we can return next year.

In total, David and the developer partners gave eight netbooks to kids in Kiev and Mogilev. Please visit the WildCoins for Kids page to learn how you can help give netbooks to children around the world!

Lauryl, WildTangent