Saved by Angels: Residents raise $3000+ for child's life-saving operation

Barbie Starr and T180Kay Smalls

Last Friday, I mentioned a charity ball fundraiser to cover the $3000 co-pay for an operation to save RJ, a Resident's little nephew who recently sustained a life-threatening head injury.  According to Barbie Starr, who organized the event and converted the L$ to US$ which went directly to the hospital, that figure has been reached: "We have raised over L$108,000 and have had enough money paid directly to the hospital and also by Paypal to pay the bill and the surgery went well," she tells me. T180Kay Smalls, RJ's aunt, will visit him soon.  Members of RJs Angels, the impromptu group formed solely to support the drive, are now wondering whether they should broaden its mission:  "[W]e might use this group as a way to help other kids of Residents in SL that are in need," Ms. Starr, one of the Angels' chief organizer, tells me.

As for why she worked so hard on this effort, to help the family member of someone she'd only known  as an avatar, her answer is simple.  "A friend of mine, Rift Rehnquist, asked me to help," Barbie Starr explains. "I have a 9 year old son and a 6 year old girl. I couldn't say no."