THROUGH GAMES
Café Cares
Café World Partners with The Audubon Society to Support Gulf Coast Clean-up Efforts
July 2, 2010
In the wake of the largest oil spill in US history, Café World is lending support to the Audubon Society with its Café Cares promotion, to last at least a week in the restaurant-themed game. During the promotion, when players purchase a special Mystery Crate or one of several designated charity items, 50% of the proceeds will support Audubon’s efforts to address the catastrophic damage in the Gulf, to protect effected wildlife and habitats for future generations.
This is the second partnership between Zynga and Audobon in recent weeks. A FishVille promotion recently benefitted the organization in its ongoing response to the crisis in the Gulf.
About Audubon
Audubon’s mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. Visit The Audubon Society for more information.
A Groundbreaking Event!
L'Ecole de Choix school gains more ground & support from all
June 18, 2010
I arrived in Haiti with Marcus Segal, Zynga COO, to meet with architect Hervé Sabin of Studio Drum and Malcolm Morris of MDM Development Architecture in Chicago. Hervé is Haitian, lives in Port-au-Prince and is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in New York. Malcolm is responsible for design and construction planning, oversight and management.
Excited to return to Mirebalais, we were there to break ground on a new property for the L'Ecole de Choix school. The property originally designated as the site for the school was a total of 2 carreaux (or about 6.4 acres) of land. After hearing our plans for the building site, the Mayor of Mirebalais expanded the property lines in the Prefecture of Bayass, increasing the real estate area by 1 carreaux. The new school now occupies a total of about 9.6 acres! Local leaders gathered to celebrate the event, including Mayor Lochard Laguerre, the Prefect and the Senator of the Central Plateau Edmonde Supplice Beauzile. They spent the entire weekend proudly wearing their Zynga t-shirts!
Academic collaborators involved in developing the new school's curriculum will assure a high educational calibur with respect to program offerings. DePaul University in Chicago is contributing support by way of teacher training and education. The Francis W. Parker school in Chicago is partnering with DePaul to develop new L'Ecole de Choix academic programs. Additional partners include the World Food Programme and the Bureau de Nutrition et Développement in connection with the school meals program. Water.org is providing support in the form of clean water management.
We had a BLAST! With soccer ball in hand, we started a pick-up game with the kids. Marcus roamed the streets with a video camera and enjoyed handing kids new Zynga-branded Chicklet gum, pencils and pencil sharpeners. The kids had fun learning how to sharpen the pencils, teaching us the finer points of soccer and Marcus how to correctly pronounce "Mirabalais" with his fabulous French accent!
About L'Ecole de Choix
L'Ecole de Choix is a replicable model for a multi-use K-12 educational facility. While kindergarten through high school class work will take place throughout daytime school hours, after hours we will offer programming for youth, adolescents and adults, including education surrounding the arts, culture, handicrafts, new technologies, and of course, athletics. Academic support services will also be offered, as well as very moderate preventative health care education. L’École de Choix will also offer off-hours programs in English-as-a-second-language, literacy and work skills training programs. The primary focus of our efforts is to strive to educate the whole community, rather than a select few in a narrower age group. In addition, these diverse offerings support the family, which in turn is better able to support the growing student and in turn, a culture of education and personal dignity.
Zynga’s goal is to offer access to quality education with the construction of a school in Mirebalais. Learn more about Zynga.org's efforts in Haiti.
Sweet Seeds for Haiti
FarmVille Players Raise Nearly $200,000 to Build School
May 21, 2010
A big shoutout goes to FarmVille players, who raised over $190,000 through the latest Sweet Seeds for Haiti campaign! More than 80,000 FarmVille farmers bought virtual sweet yams, in which 50% of the proceeds will go towards building a K-12 school in Mirebalais, Haiti.
Zynga is teaming with Haiti nonprofit FATEM to build a school in the Central Plateau region. Tens of thousands of Haitians took refuge in this region after the devastating earthquake destroyed their homes in January. The influx of refugees has overwhelmed the region’s resources and left many children without the option to attend school. Currently, Zynga and FATEM are scouting several locations to construct the school.
The third Sweet Seeds program marks the first of several campaigns Zynga will launch to raise funds for the school.
Read more information on how these funds will tie into Zynga’s overall support for Haiti.
World Food Programme Gives Shout Out to Zynga’s Players
One Billion Users to Help One Billion Fight Hunger
May 19, 2010
Thousands of Zynga players are already making a difference by supporting the World Food Programme’s “A Billion for a Billion” campaign to fight world hunger. The outpouring of support from Zynga players who donated to the Earthquake Relief Fund has already contributed to 12 million meals for children in Haiti.
Back in January, over 250,000 Zynga players rallied to benefit the Earthquake Relief for Haiti by raising $1.5 million in five days. The funds went towards providing immediate food relief to earthquake victims through the WFP.
The Haiti relief funds also benefited the WFP’s campaign to get one billion users to help one hungry billion worldwide. In this recent video, Josette Sheeran, executive director of the WFP, talks about how Zynga’s users have helped the Billion for Billion cause.
Sweet Seeds for Haiti
Growing Sweet Yams That Never Wither
May 6, 2010
Launching today, FarmVille Players will once again get a chance to support Haitians and their families by purchasing Sweet Yams that NEVER whither. Those that donate will receive a special gift and a one week license to purchase as many Sweet Yams as they want for their Farms. 50% of the proceeds will go to support the new Zynga/FATEM school located in the Plateau region of Mirabilis.
Read more information on how these funds will tie into Zynga’s overall support for Haiti.
FishVille Players Dive into World Water Week
Bringing Safe Water to Haiti
March 22, 2010
FishVille players are doing more than just keeping their tanks clean. Partnering with Water.org, Zynga.org ran a one-week campaign in FishVille to provide clean water to people in Haiti. FishVille players bought more than 70,000 water wrasses, a limited edition virtual fish, to raise over $13,500 for Water.org. The funds will give more than 500 people in Haiti access to safe water.
In addition to the funds, more than 40,000 FishVille players published a Facebook feed during World Water Week (March 22-26) to drive awareness for the safe water cause. During that week, FishVille users generated 10 times the average number of visitors to Water.org on a weekly basis. More than 100,000 users visited that site, with six of every 10 users coming from FishVille.
The FishVille campaign marks Zynga.org’s new partnership with Water.org, a nonprofit cofounded by Gary White and Matt Damon to bring safe water to developing countries.
“Even before the earthquake, the water crisis in Haiti was severe. Like so many other places on our planet, people living in poverty struggle to obtain the basic needs of water and proper sanitation,” said Gary White, co-founder and executive director of Water.org. “The partnership with Zynga will allow us to more quickly scale our efforts to reach the people of Haiti with life-saving safe drinking water projects."
Exploding Teddy Bears!
HDSA goes live in Mafia Wars: Play Mafia Wars to Help Annihilate Huntington’s Disease
March 2, 2010
This week players can purchase the limited edition sweet cuddly DANGEROUS EXPLODING teddy bear to help annihilate Huntington’s Disease and not to mention a few of their enemies.
By purchasing the teddy bear, Zynga will send 50% of the proceeds to the HDSA, Huntington’s Disease Society of America. The HDSA provides support and services to persons with Huntington's Disease (HD) and their families around the world.
Users will be logging in, attacking their enemies by spreading the wadding of the teddy bear showing their support for the Coalition for the Cure, a unique consortium of global scientists who have made most of the major discoveries surrounding HD, making it possible to develop potential therapies to treat HD symptoms and, eventually, the disease itself.
Explode your own Teddy Bear in Mafia Wars TODAY!
http://apps.facebook.com/inthemafia