Starting This Weekend: Second Life Shopping Fundraiser to Benefit Maui Families in Need, on a Sim Shaped Like the Island

Click here to teleport to a Second Life fundraiser to help the people of Maui now in desperate need due to the wildfire tragedy. Dozens of top SL brands listed here are donating content to the project, Maui Wildfire Relief SL, with all Linden Dollar proceeds converted to USD and going to the Maui Food Bank. 

The fundraiser starts August 19th, 9amSLT and runs to August 26. (The teleport link won't be live until then.) And yes, the island sim has been shaped to look like Maui itself -- the creation of event manager Wendz Tempest, who is herself from Maui. (As are several other members of the volunteer team.) 

Go here for more info, and if you're a content creator, consider signing up to participate!

The sim itself has a chill beach party / flea market feel, with a gorgeous stream of Hawaiian music setting the vibe. Wendz even created a tribute to Lahaina's vast famous banyan tree, which now struggles to recover from the blaze:

"I wanted to do something tangible to help and I knew if people were aware that there were ways to support and contribute, we could get help sent quickly, to boots on the ground types of organizations." (And the Maui Food Bank is one of the best groups helping Maui people right now.) Fundraiser co-founder Cort Brandriss will be handling the L$-to-USD donations, as she has experience as a fundraising coordinator through Linden Lab from another event. 

Click here to teleport, and hope to see you there. As someone from Hawai'i, the Lahaina wild fire has been devastating to watch from afar. But it's an incredible comfort seeing the Second Life community come together from around the world to offer this virtual but tangible offer of kokua.

Comments

[0xc0ffea]

Or donate directly to one of the many Maui fundraisers and not have a portion of your donation eaten in LL process fees.

Also .. L$ are not worth much. L$1000 feels like a lot, but after fees it's about $3 US. Which is likely far less than you would donate if just using cash.

[Cort]

Hi Ox0ffea!

We absolutely support ALL of the organizations doing good work for this cause! There are many verified sources that can be found online to donate directly to, and I'm sure you've already taken the steps to do so yourself!

We have set up a fundraiser in SL for those who wish to donate their lindens this way, and we are of the opinion that every bit helps, however it gets there!

Best,
Cort Brandriss
Organizer, Maui Wildfire Relief Donation Drive

[Fees fees and more fees]

Linden Lab will gladly charge you the following fees on your donation:

10% on the purchase of your Lindens
5% to convert those Lindens back to USD$
5% to cash out those Lindens

In other words 20% of the charity goes already directly in Linden Lab their pockets.

[Patchouli Woollahra]

Linden Lab has been known to waive the bottom two fees on proof that a USD cashout is intended for a valid charitable cause. They're not blind to the negative optics of charging those fees on a charitable cause. Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the first fee as there's no way to ensure the entire sum of L$ goes to a charity.