Blazer's Edge: Trail Blazers Site Sending Underprivileged Kids To An NBA Game

For years, when SB Nation wanted to show how community interaction on a site was one one of our top priorities, we pointed to Blazer's Edge, and its editor, Dave Deckard. In this new medium of sports publishing, interacting with readers and creating a virtual community is a vital component. One that Mr. Deckard has mastered.

Not only does Blazer's Edge enjoy one of SBN's most vibrant communities online, but they venture into the offline arena, too. Take their most recent project - get as many underprivileged kids as possible, along with their chaperons, to a Trail Blazers game. This isn't a one-time lark, they've been doing it for years, but this year that ended up with spectacular results. When the call from Mr. Deckard went out to the community to donate tickets to the game, they responded.

This event has grown every year. Starting from a modest donation of three tickets we immediately blossomed to 50. The next year it was 100. And then to the moon. We've also uncovered plenty of need in the community. Teachers and principals and all kinds of folks who work with all kinds of kids have written and called. Requests for tickets this year came immediately and stayed strong.

We were almost afraid it was more than we could cope with. When I put out the plea on March 11th we had 350 tickets bought. That was only 70% of the requests we had in at that point and was about half of our maximum allotment.

It took one day--less that 24 hours--for you to help us max out the lot. In fact we went over. Our ticket agent told us we had completely bought out the tickets still available at our price level, and this after she had scraped together every last extra seat in response to your generosity.

The final number came in last Friday. 750 kids and chaperons are going to the April 17th game versus the Warriors because of you. 750 times we were able to say yes to people who are looking forward to being able to do something special for the deserving kids in their lives. 750 pairs of hands and feet will be clapping and stomping in the Rose Garden that night because of you.

Simply phenomenal. We salute Blazer's Edge and Dave Deckard for their efforts to make a difference in a child's life. Creating strong communities online can translate into charitable efforts offline. SB Nation believes that, and Blazer's Edge proves it.