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Posted by Frankie at 9/2/2005 11:55 AM PDT

Bungie Weekly Update
September 2nd, 2005

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is proving worse than the storm itself. People are dying. We can help. Come on in and see what YOU can do to help women, children, the elderly, the starving and the sick in Louisiana and Mississippi. We've never been more serious.

Hey everyone. It's been a grim week. It's been marked by utter helplessness. We've watched the events in the Gulf States helplessly. We've watched the helpless victims waiting for aid. We've watched government agencies helpless to reach these people. But we're not helpless. We have unlimited opportunities to help and we can start here.

BUY THIS T-SHIRT RIGHT NOW

Seriously. Stop reading for a minute, get a credit card, go to the website and buy the T-Shirt. It's $19.99 and about $15 of that will go directly to the Hurricane Relief effort, through the American Red Cross. Not a penny profit will be made and every cent of cash will go where it's needed.

Don't have a credit card? Grab a parent, make them read this, and get them to buy it for you. And hassle them about it. Make them do it. Come on, you talked them into buying you Halo 2 right? Well this is much more important. Do it. Do it. Do it.

Now, we're also donating all our store profits from the month of September to the American Red Cross. That means that anything else you buy there will contribute to the disaster relief effort. Frankly, I'd prefer you just bought a bunch of the Fight the Flood T-Shirts, since more profits will go from them than any other items.

Now, why did we make a T-Shirt? We used the tools we have. We have a company store that can handle the transactions. We have designers, and we were able to make T-Shirts faster than anything else. And a T-Shirt is something you can wear to show solidarity with the folks suffering there, and reminds everyone around you that it's good to donate. It's a billboard for what we're capable of doing when people need help.

And we have to thank our partner, Sunrise Identity for getting the T-Shirts, the website and the credit card stuff ready in record time. We know a lot of folks worked hard to make that happen and we appreciate it.

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People have short memories, so we're going to keep pushing this, and later this month, we're going to co-host a special charity auction with our friends at Halo.Bungie.Org, where we'll be auctioning rare and unusual Bungie and Halo stuff and of course, donate all proceeds to the Red Cross. We'll have all sorts of awesome things to bid on but some of the biggies include large Master Chief statues (signed by the team), the original "Fight the Flood" concept artwork signed by Bungie artists, a "Jam Board" which is a piece of foam core that's been put on the wall for our artists to doodle, sign, write, customize however they want - this will be a 100% unique and totally original piece, an action figure mega pack (tons of JoyRide action figures all crammed into one big box), and plenty of signed game posters, Xbox game discs and more. We'll keep you posted about when that goes live.

Now lots of folks have said they think it's great what Bungie is doing – as a company we're doing all we can, but ultimately it's you, our fans, who are making the real difference. We're simply giving you a platform to assemble on, and an easy way to donate and show your support. YOU guys are the ones doing it. You guys are the ones helping and sacrificing and donating.

We set up a forum for folks to organize help, discuss the disaster, and most importantly raise money. Cash is what's needed fast. Cash pays for food, for water, for medicine, for evacuation, for buses and for shelter.

Some of our players and readers are helping directly. They're donating blood (contact your local donation center to find out if you can help .) http://www.americasblood.org/ And you can of course donate directly to the American Red Cross here: http://www.redcross.org/

There's a lot you can do – you can volunteer, you can give money, you can organize a bake sale. If you can, do something this weekend to help. You think your help won't make a difference? Tell that to a dehydrated mother trying to keep her baby alive in a sewer. Do something. If you're a minor, make sure your folks know what you're doing first.

Our forums are alive with ideas and examples. Folks are coming together and doing everything they can. They're sharing stories, suggestions and organizing. And some of them of course, have been directly affected by the tragedy....

Senor Leche:
"I work at the Navy's Helicopter Airwing here in Norfolk and we just mobilized every available helicopter to deploy on the ships heading down there. If it has blades and is safe to fly it's on the way."

Oodalalli:
"Have an aunt who's town is well gone. She and her family are fine but they are now homeless for the time being. I think it is great what Bungie is doing."

A common theme on the forums was folks donating their savings – lots of our players are kids, or don't have much money. These aren't the last, selfish slobs they're sometimes portrayed to be by the media. They are hard working, well-behaved, caring folks who will make sacrifices to do the right thing. We know that even the $20 we're asking for the T-Shirts is a lot for some, especially younger players – so stuff like this really knocks me on my ass.

"I am donating my Xbox 360 money. I will just work weekends a few times to make up for it. - $242" - PC Gamer Analyst

Now I can't stress how bad the situation is. It is incredible. You've seen the news footage – this looks like the end of the world, and for the people there, it IS the end of the world. People – babies, old folks, healthy adults, are dead and dying. From drowning to dehydration. Folks are passing away because they can't get medicine, food, shelter even. It is getting WORSE. And we have to fix it.

Lil' Calvin's story should give you an idea of how directly this affects people – and he's one of the very lucky ones..

Lil' Calvin:

"Thanks to everybody for your help. I Live in St. Bernard parish (county) just to the southeast of N.O. and my ENTIRE parish is under about 8-12 ft of water. I have evacuated to Houston TX and am using my brother's laptop right now. I cannot express how grateful I and the people of my community are for your donations and support. I would like to clear up one or two things.

The looting: Crackheads who are too stupid to leave. 'Nuff said.

"Why live there when you know something like this could happen" : It's a risk we all take by all living there and we're all well aware of it. As far as being prepared for it goes - We have been prepared for it for so many years, however, the levee system that has broken and is still flooding the city was engineered to hold back a cat. 3 or a weak 4. It is next to impossible to fight off a Cat. 5. It's worse than "worst case" that reporters and news agencies have talked about for years.

A little about my story: Myself, my parents, and my brother are OK in a hotel room in Houston TX. My other brother is with the Air National Guard and has been helping refugees in the Louisiana Superdome since Sunday. He is ok.

I have not been able to get in contact with a good number of my friends. I think they all left but the phone service is a complete mess. I have a hard time calling my dad's phone and he's downstairs in the hotel right now. As far as being worried about friends, there is only one. I don't know if he stayed and if he didn't, where he was planning to go wasn't that far away. But I'm sure all my friends are ok and it will be a matter of time before I see them again.

I am going home to nothing. My home is completely underwater. My car has probably floated down the river. It had liability only insurance (no flood insurance). My work is under more water than my house. I am planning to go work at the location we have in Baton Rouge LA but nothing is certain yet. I am going home to nothing!!!

Once again I would like to say thanks for everybody's support and donations. My entire community and all of the gulf coast needs your help right now."

I know this is serious stuff, but that's the point. If it wasn't that bad, we wouldn't be doing this. We have so much faith in our community, that we're passing the torch. Go help. Buy a T-Shirt. Give Blood. Volunteer. Help these people. They're dying. We're not messing around. They're dying.

- Frankie

I can't possibly say it better than Frankie already has... but as one of the people at Bungie who spends a great deal of time interacting with our fan community I wanted to add in my heart felt THANK YOU to everyone out there who has stepped up to make a difference. I'm constantly amazed by the dedication and passion shown by our fans and in this of time crisis it's amazing to see what a group of "gamers" can do if they put their hearts to it. You've been there for us over the years and now you've taken the same passion and energy youshow towards our studio and our games and have cranked it way up and focused it towards helping those in need. Thank you everyone. -Sketch

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