Project Pinball Charity

Project Pinball Charity is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that places pinball machines in children's hospitals and Ronald McDonald House Charities to provide recreational relief to patients, family members, and staff.[1] Operating out of Bonita Springs, Florida since 2011[2] Project Pinball has donated 61 pinball machines to 59 hospitals spanning 26 states.[3]

Project Pinball Charity
Formation2013
TypeNonprofit 501(C)(3)
PurposePatient Rehabilitation
HeadquartersBonita Springs, FL
Key people
Daniel Spolar (Founder)
WebsiteOfficial website

History

Project Pinball Charity was founded on August 19, 2013 by Daniel Spolar.[4] Spolar noticed an inoperable 2007 Spider-Man Pinball Machine by Stern Pinball in Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida and offered to fix it. After repairing the machine and discovering it had been played over 21,300 times in two years, Spolar went on to found the Project Pinball Charity Group to assist other children's hospitals in their patient rehabilitation.[5] Since then they have been assisted by pinball manufacturers such as Stern,[6] Jersey Jack Pinball, and Visual Pinball to donate machines to 61 different hospitals in 26 states.[3] In 2020 the charity's annual Love Across America Tour dedicated 8 machines in 14 days including one in Cincinnati, Ohio with the help of local celebrity Fluke Skywalker[7] and another in Columbia, South Carolina.[8]

Project Pinball Charity has a Platinum rating from Guidestar.[3]

Hospital donations

Project Pinball has donated 61 pinball machines placed in 59 children’s hospitals and 26 states[3] including Children's Hospital Colorado, Sunrise Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, UNC Children's Hospital, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital and Medical Center of Omaha, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Advocate Children's Hospital, Palm Beach Children's Hospital, K.Hovnanian Children's Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Wesley Children's Hospital[9] and Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida.[10]

References
  1. "Pinball for therapy". Coastal Breeze News, Inc. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  2. Tess.projectpinball, Community Contributor. "Children's Hospital Scores Stern Pinball Machine for Patients". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-06-01. {{cite news}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  3. "PROJECT PINBALL CHARITY GROUP INC - GuideStar Profile". www.guidestar.org. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  4. "Detail by Entity Name". search.sunbiz.org. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
  5. "Project Pinball scores big for children's hospitals". The News-Press. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
  6. Mikus, Kim. "Nutriad invests $4 million in Hampshire facility". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  7. "Mark Hamill doppleganger 'Fluke Skywalker' raises money for Ronald McDonald house gift". WKRC Local 12. 2020-12-11.
  8. "Ronald McDonald House of Columbia receives new pinball machine". WOLO-TV ABC Columbia. 2020-12-14.
  9. Vermeulen, Jess (2017-07-13). "Pinball machine brings relief to patients at Wesley". KSNW. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  10. "Impact – The Project Pinball Charity". projectpinball.org. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.