Wounded Warrior Benefit Raises 375,000 Lindens

On Sunday May 27th, Patriot Island held it's monthly Wounded Warrior benefit. Held at the hangar bay stage in the eastern part of the sim, musicians performed for the crowd as they donated cash into two kiosks on either side of the stage, resembling overturned helmets. It was Memorial Day weekend, and the bar was set high. It was announced their goal was a total amount of 275,000 Lindens that night.

For the first hour, Avantgarde Frequency performed for the crowd as the Lindens were tossed into the helmet kiosks, strumming his guitar. Then came Frets Nirvana, the organizer of the event, with his own guitar. Following Frets was Voodoo Shilton, and Mulder Watts on stage together. The audience numbered close to fifty residents at times. Among them were CNN iReporter Any1 Gynoid, and two leading members of the RFL Passionate Redheads team, Sabine McGettin and Dusk Griswold.

As time went on, the Lindens piled up. Occasionally someone offered to chip in an amount, such as 500 or 1000 Lindens, if someone matched their donations. "Come on, this is for a good cause guys! Who's gonna match me?" While Frets Nirvana played, the total passed 200,000 Lindens. When his time on stage was up at 8PM, the total raised was a little shy of the goal at 239,000 Lindens.

Then at 8:03, one or two persons chipped in a massive amount, raising the total by 79,000 Lindens "Yayayay! 79 K!" The amount raised rose to 319,000, and the fundraiser goal had been reached, "Did you just say we made 320K?" Over and over again, people were told, "… thanks for the WW donation." "… thanks for the awesome WW donation." The total went up to 330, then past 340 and 350. Finally at 9:20, "Ohhhhhhhh wow! 375,000 total!" "Woot! 375k!" "Great show guys, thanks!" "U guys killed it! Played hard. Thats how i like to hear it! YAY!" "YAAAAAY FRETS!" "That's awesome, 375000. (grins) That's about 1500 USD!!!" "Voodoo, Mulder, thank you both so very VERY much. You guys were awesome tonight."

Frets Nirvana himself spoke, "Excellent folks, just excellent. Just made my Memorial Day weekend, and our vets!

Patriot Island is owned by the US Military Veterans Group. Besides home to a community of vets and the location of public events, it is in part a memorial site, a replica of the Tomb of Unknowns in the center. So visitors are asked to be respectful while visiting. The Wounded Warrior Project is a nonprofit group devoted to "honor and empower wounded warriors" of the US Military. The Project "began when several individuals took small, inspired actions to help others in need. The resulting objective was to provide tangible support for the severely wounded and help them on the road to healing, both physically and mentally."

Bixyl Shuftan