The first time I sat down to reflect on what happened at our Tabletop Day event, I was overtaken by the powerful simplicity of it. I wanted to update my facebook status, for those unable to attend the event, but couldn’t encapsulate everything. So I just listed what I saw.
This weekend, I saw games
-Help the effort to end sex slavery
-Bring people together across across age, geographic,
and experiential boundaries
-Give connection to those who felt alone
-Create and/or celebrate shared histories amongst
disparate people.
-Make people put down their phones and actively interact
with those around them
There were a lot of great moments throughout the day. 
I personally got a chance to teach people a number of games that are newer additions to my traveling game library. We started out light with a little Coup and Love Letter, but quickly moved on to meatier fare. I watched in horror and amazement as one gentleman constructed a Jinteki deck for Netrunner WHILE finishing a game of Betrayal at the House on the Hill. And applauded his brilliance when he then used that self same deck to crush my silly little attempts at running on his servers.
A friend of mine, whose passion for games rivals my own, brought a copy of Agricola. 
However, the majority of the people in the room had never even heard of the granddaddy of all worker placement games, let alone know how to play it. While she was used to playing one on one with her husband, she soon had three people looking to learn. So she set about to introduce a new group of people to her favorite game. In the past, those same people have looked at me cross-eyed for suggesting a game that takes upwards of two hours could be fun. Yet her passion fueled their learning, and soon they were all explaining to me about the hard decision to sacrifice their pet sheep for the welfare of the family.
As the day began to wind down, we went on to drawing for our raffles. We were really thankful for those who helped make these prizes so wonderful. Our friendly local gaming store, Elite Battlegrounds, had donated a collection of comics and Captain America collectibles, but the most sought after prize was the copy of Freedom: The Underground Railroad.
We were blessed when the game’s designer, Brian Mayer, emailed us about the raffle. He had heard that we were giving the game away for a prize and that the money was going to end modern day slavery, and he graciously offered to send us a signature to add to the box. I will say that the bulk of the money raised at the event came from raffle tickets for a chance to take the game home. It was such a great prize that I tossed in a couple tickets myself though my wife and I were the ones who donated it in the first place. I can also say that when a representative of Love True pulled one of MY tickets out of the cup, I was happy. 
While I had to duck from a bit of light-hearted protesting about rigging the draw, I can now say that Freedom is now part of my traveling game library, with signatures from Mr. Mayer alongside members of the Love True team adorning to box cover. Not only will a great game be able to bring people together, but it will serve as a reminder that on that day, gamers came together to do something wonderful.
When all was said and done, we had raised just over four hundred dollars for the organization. It felt good to hand over the envelope filled with cash at the end of the night. 
When I asked what the money would be going to, they informed us that they are hoping to purchase land and make a home for girls saved out of slavery in order that they might find restoration without fear. Suddenly the four hundred did not seem like such a large number. This was doubled by the fact that I know Love True is a fairly new, and fairly small organization. All the money they raise goes to help the girls and to raise awareness, leaving them all to work side jobs to make a living while basically working as full time volunteers. However, I left with a reminder that sometimes it is the passion behind the giving that makes an impact just as powerful as the amount of the gift. Emily Rice, Love True’s associate director, shared something with me at the end of the night while breaking down the displays at their information table. She said “We always try to encourage people to use what they are passionate about to help us do what we are passionate about. You are the first ones to take us up on that.”
I didn’t do that alone. Gamers did that.