I still perform at a hospital, usually once a week, and I give away the decks that I perform with. It takes about an hour to get there, but I go because they made a specific request for volunteer magicians, a request that Jason Brumbalow posted on the Ellusionist blog back when he still worked there. The kids like having the souvenir of the visit, and they get to see for themselves that the cards aren't trick cards in any way - I wouldn't just give them away if they were, now would I? It's also good because while some kids go all out with tablet and notebook computers, many of them are in the hospital with little more than the television or the occasional visitor from the hospital volunteer staff. They'll loan you a book or sit and play a board game for a while, but when I give them a deck of cards, they get to keep that and take it home and it gives them something to do when the family comes in for visits.
Very often, the kids I approach are fine with their present situation, but every now and then I get someone that's frightened or in some amount of discomfort. It's probably the most special thing that ever happens to me when I see that child transform, so when I leave the room, they aren't screaming and they're not quite so afraid anymore. In the pediatric emergency room, the doctors are always steering me to the patients that are most in need - I get to be their opening act! It's not always easy because the conditions aren't always ideal and I've seen my fair share of illnesses and injuries that might make some squeamish. But the result is worth it.
I still have many decks from the last deck drive I organized here, but I also go through them at a pretty good pace, perhaps a brick a week now, sometimes more. Most of them are Streamlines - unfortunately I ended up with the older, cheaply-made Chinese ones, but should I do another deck drive in the future, I'm just going straight to WalMart and buying up whatever Streamlines they have in stock (they get the new Kentucky-made ones and they're much better). I also have many decks that were shipped to me from individuals - Alex donated some of his Vortex decks (the teens really like them), Mike from BMPokerWorld donated some mixed bricks of "scratch-n-dent" decks that collectors tend to not enjoy so much and recently Doris ordered some bricks of Bicycle Standards shipped straight to me from Amazon. But the need is always there, and I keep filling it as much as I can. Sometimes I even give a few bricks directly to the volunteer program for distribution on their library carts or the tote bags they take from room to room filled with board games and similar stuff - they're insanely popular.
Alex, you let me know how much of that briefcase you're willing to send to those kids via my hospital visits, I'll pay postage - and I'll gladly accept (through Alex) donations to help defray the shipping costs. As long as the decks are "open but new" or still sealed, I'm glad to have them and I know the kids are twice as glad. And if anyone else wants some for distribution in hospitals such as what I'm doing, please, speak up!
