Gabe Newell is using his sway over the Reddit fan community to encourage positive things in the world. The Valve co-founder took to the website to promote The Heart of Racing charity, pledging to submit to a Reddit AMA if donations reach the $500,000 mark (via IGN). For those that aren’t familiar, a Reddit AMA – short for “Ask Me Anything” – amounts to a text-based, crowd-sourced interview conducted in a specially created thread on the website.
Husband-and-wife Don and Donna Kitch founded The Heart of Racing in 1997 as a means to combine their love for race car driving with an interest in raising money for pediatric cardiac care. The charity’s website notes that they’ve taken in more than $5,000,000 since they first started, with all of the money going to the top-rated Seattle Children’s Hospital. The race lasts a full 24 hours, with donations being on a per-lap basis. Previous events have lasted for well over 700 laps. Newell is backing a Porsche 911 GT America, and he’s now using his considerable sway over the Internet to generate donations. Good on him.
If you want to give money to a positive cause, head over to The Heart of Racing’s donation page. Who knows? If the $500,000 target is hit, Newell might even answer a question about Half-Life 3. He’s always so forthcoming about that game, isn’t he?
