Let’s pretend you don’t know anything about Patrick Rothfuss. That’s OK, there are a lot of people in the world and he’s just one of them. Plus, he does live kind of out of the way, in the middle of Wisconsin, so you can be forgiven.
The good news is there are really only two things you have to know about the man. First, besides being an alpha geek, he is a fantastically talented writer. His books in The Kingkiller Chronicle have won awards and sat atop the New York Times bestseller list. Recently, he wrote a novella about one of his trilogy’s characters that is an epically poetic tale and showcases his beautiful mastery of language.
The second is that he is an incredibly good human being. This is a statement that needs some justification, so consider this: his store, The Tinker’s Packs donates all of its proceeds to a charity he started, Worldbuilders. Worldbuilders directly benefits Heifer International, an organization built on sustainable agriculture and commerce as a way of ending world hunger and poverty.
Yes, there is definitely more to Pat Rothfuss than these two things, but that’s all you need to know to understand the rest of this post. You see, each year, Worldbuilders has a fundraiser to raise more money for Heifer International. The fundraiser runs for just a month this year and has just a few more weeks to go. With a goal of $250,000, they have already raised about 75% of their goal.
But goals are made to be broken and there are a lot of incentives for you to give a little (or a lot) to support Worldbuilders and Heifer International. I’m not talking about tote bags or bumper stickers, I’m talking about really fantastic, one-of-a-kind stuff that is available via an awesome lottery.
Details, you ask? OK. First, there’s the Three Threes, which recalls last year’s fundraiser where a sub-lottery was announced for donations ending in thirty-three cents. This time around, people anticipated it and started donating with amounts ending in $ ##.33. So, this year, well, I’ll just let Pat tell you:
Or you can just read about it here. You have to admit, that’s pretty darn cool.
Second, there’s the usual lottery where hundreds of books and author-donated (and signed) books are available via a lottery system. Every $10 you donate buys you a chance at one of these books. Additionally, there are a lot of cool things at auction over on eBay… and, all told, that’s an awful lot of cool stuff.
The bottom line is there are lots of reasons to donate. You could win a book. Or get your name in a future Rothfuss novel. Or score some rare Kingkiller treasure.
But you also have to ask yourself, is there a reason not to donate? At this time of year, when we give thanks for the things we have, it’s worth remembering there’s no shortage of people who don’t have much, if anything. And for people who don’t have much, a flock of chickens or a goat can mean everything. Please donate today.
