Progress & Complications. Full Disclosure.

I have good news to share, and also some complications and reasons behind those complications.

I am in possession of the majority of the games I ordered. I have contacted the recipients and have plans to deliver the games next week. The games I do not currently have, I will deliver when I receive them. So... why do I not have all the games currently?

So, I work at a board game store. Which is great because I have access to lots of games, exposure to new games, and an employee discount. I ordered a TON of games February of this year. I received maybe $500 worth in a month. The rest... I never got. Every time I checked in, I didn't get much response back. And when I did, there was typically a complication with the order. Backordered usually. Late summer, the store and I made another order in hopes I would get them by Christmas. Nothing showed up. This was incredibly frustrating. And, to the extent of my knowledge, no one else knows why my games haven't showed up. So, what I did was purchase games off the shelf. And you may ask, "Why didn't I just do this to begin with?" Well, we raised $2,105 which is a LOT of board games. I chose 4 recipients to divide the funds between. Even so, that is a lot of board games per recipient. So I tried ordering 4 copies of most games. Our store does not stock multiple copies of most of the games I ordered. Some, but not all. But, I purchased games off the shelf, and then asked to have copies of those games ordered in. The idea being, if we stock them, they should be readily available and delivered within a week or so. Well, once again, none of the games I requested came in. So, I had to resort to ordering from Amazon. I do not like doing this but I had no choice if I wanted last year's funds to be used by this year. I already am disappointed in myself for letting it go this long. And now I feel like I am behind and cannot catch up. There was a large order made on Amazon a few weeks ago. More than the funds we had but I will fill the excess in myself. I received most of them. But, 2 packages with a total of 13 items in it, has been lost. After days of trying to find out what happened or get a replacement, I was told I needed to file a police report. I have done so, and now I am waiting on it to be completed (hopefully in my favor) so that I can inform Amazon and get replacements. I don't anticipate this happening before Christmas... And, in the worst case scenario where I cannot get a refund or replacement, I will fill in the lost funds with my own money. I guarantee that every cent from last year will be used for games.

The plan is to deliver the games that I have to the recipients next week. When the other games arrive, I will deliver them, even if it is next year.

This year has been incredibly frustrating because of the ordering complications. And I am truly sorry it has taken this long. I want to make up for it next year. This year has not been all bad, however. A new logo is on the way. I learned so much about non-profit organizations. The website was published. I gained a lot of experience from working in my game store. Good things are in store for the future of of Games On The Table. I don't know if I will be able to catch up from last year. Because in a month I will have this year's funds and need to use them, which I have not even begun to plan because of this year's complications. Maybe the future will always be "funds of one year will be used for holiday of next year". That might make sense if Games On The Table gets much bigger. I am not sure. There is a lot I am not sure about. This charity has been a huge learning experience and I have a lot to improve upon.

Thanks to everyone for the support and the patience.

Ethan Helling

Good News!

Lots of good stuff for you all.

• The rest of the games for 2021 are on the way. They are estimated to arrive December 5th.

• I will deliver the games the first half of December. Pictures and details will be posted.

• Currently, we have over $1500 for 2022! We ended last year with $2105 so my goal is to pass that.

• After the new year, lots of plans will take way. - Some merchandise will be made and available to order. - The event operation proposal I have been working on will be completed so that charity events can happen. - The new logo will be ready. - I want to go through the process of becoming an official non-profit charitable organization. - I want to expand on donation item content. I will go into detail on this come new year.

Thank you everyone for being patient. Unforeseen hurdles made this process take far longer than it should have. But I will be prepared for next year.

Holiday Plans

I have a few things to say in this update.

My original plan for purchasing games was to get 4 of each game and deliver them equally to the 4 recipients I chose. However, since acquiring games has been difficult, I have only been able to purchase what is available. This means that I have many games, but not all of them in quadruplicate, and not all of 2021's funds have been spent. So, I want to try to get whatever games I can within 1 month's time.

There are 2 options I am considering for using the rest of the money this year.

1. I will carry over to next year and I will be far more diligent in acquiring items.

2. I will use the rest of the funds to purchase non-gaming things for kids. Stuffed animals, blankets, toys, learning tools, etc. I want to branch out into these areas eventually anyway.

This year I made a lot of big steps for the charity. Next year, I will be more prepared for whatever challenges come up.

Thanks to everyone for the support. I do not feel like I was as diligent as I should have been this year on many fronts. But, I have an outline of what I want to do next year and the future of Games On The Table is going to be great.