This Monday is Memorial Day in the United States — a holiday to honor the servicemen and women who gave their lives in military service. Generally businesses are closed, so everybody gets a three-day weekend.
Activision, as you may or may not know, has created the Call of Duty Endowment, which helps give vets 21st-century job training and career placement. C.O.D.E. works with several different charity organizations in an attempt to help on as many fronts as possible. I got to spend some time vomiting on the USS John C Stennis a few months back as part of a CODE donation to the troops, but in honor of the Memorial Day weekend, there’s a very cool, very easy charity drive going on that you can help with, and I’m serious: I have never heard of an easier way to support a worthwhile charity in my entire life.
For every Facebook user who clicks the “Like” icon on the Call of Duty Endowment Facebook page between right now and Monday, May 31st, C.O.D.E. will increase their donation to Hire Heroes USA by $1, up to $50,000. That’s literally all you have to do — just click the Like icon on the page and Activision sends the money on your behalf.
Please spread the link and spread the word. Let’s hit that goal incredibly fast.
If you want to see more, I’ve got some photos of the internal kick-off event after the jump.
This afternoon in the courtyard within the Activision building, we had a reception, some laptops pointed to the Facebook page, complimentary pie (is there anything more American?), and some speakers — including the boss.
Bobby Kotick explained why he wanted to create C.O.D.E. in the first place, and revealed that the unemployment rate among veterans is three times higher than the national average.
Louis Irvin of the Paralyzed Veterans of America (pva.org) said that whopping 80% of paralyzed vets can't find work when they return to civilian life.
Activision gave everybody shirts too -- the back says "No Veteran Left Behind."
The reason we have Monday off is due to the efforts and sacrifices of veterans everywhere. Let’s honor the ones who are still among us and give something back.
Please add your Like to that Facebook page and ask your friends to do the same.
UPDATE 6/1: Not only did CODE hit their goal by Sunday, but Bobby Kotick made a personal donation to bring the total to $100,000. Thank you so much for your help — I know I was relentless with reminders on Twitter, but it was for the greatest good.
