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Bright Side and Phoenix Suns partner for Bright Side Night 2015 sending underprivileged kids to a Suns game

Bright Side of the Sun gets to help send hundreds of kids to a Suns game on November 14 against the Denver Nuggets. Make a kid's night for a mere $16. Read on...

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

It's time.

It's time for our little community to give back to the much larger community of underprivileged kids and send many of them to their first ever Phoenix Suns game. There's a ton of young Suns fans out there who will never get into Talking Stick Resort Arena for a Suns game without a little help.

Be the one to help.

This is a big deal folks. Huge. Don't skip past this.

Bright Side - and that includes you! - sponsors 'Bright Side Night 2015' on November 14 at the Suns game against the Denver Nuggets. We ask you to donate some of your hard-earned money to send kids (and their chaperones) to a Suns game. We are targeting kids and families that might never get to go to a real game any other way.

This is the single most important things we have EVER done here at Bright Side. I need your help. I expect your help.

These kids need something great in their lives. They don't have much. Their parents struggle to make ends meet, so they're never going to get a chance to see a real NBA game unless you make it happen for them.

So make their year. Send a kid to a Suns game next month!

Just last week, the Suns hosted their first free intrasquad scrimmage in Phoenix at the... let's say venerable... Veterans Memorial Coliseum. At least 8,000 hungry Suns fans showed up. Many of them were kids with their parents who've never had a chance to see the Suns play in person before, and most won't ever get that chance again.

I've been to hundreds of Suns games and I'll tell you that the makeup of fans at the scrimmage last week looks very little like the makeup of fans at a typical Suns game. Of course there's the overlap. Many of you went to the scrimmage and will be back for a game (or 40) later this year.

But tell me how often you see young fans at real Suns games? How many times have we talked about how under-rowdy the arena is during games?

Let's help create a new generation of Suns fans right here, right now. Let's give these kids something to cheer - and we all know the arena could use a little new blood.

Sign up, donate a few bucks, and make a kid's night. Heck, maybe his or her whole year.

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Here's how it works.

  • You click this link to donate: Suns.com/brightsideofthesun
  • Follow the links, and use the code 'SUNS' when prompted
  • Make sure you select 'Suns Blog Bright Side of the Sun $16 donation' when prompted, then follow the prompts, pick the number of tickets you're buying, and make the payment
  • $16 sends 1 kid to the November 14 Suns game against the Nuggets (chaperones will also get tickets)
  • $32 sends 2 kids to the game, $64 sends 4 of them... you get the picture
  • You will get a confirmation email directly from the Suns
  • Upon receipt of that email, your heart grows just a little bit bigger.
  • As we approach November 14, the Suns Community Relations team will identify the kids, get them the tickets, makes sure they all have chaperones, and take care of them on game day.
  • Bright Side takes tons of pictures, interviews some of the kids, and posts a recap on the site.
  • Your heart grows three times that day.
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Need some incentive?

Look, I know you're not rolling in the dough. None of us are. We're always making value choices over whether to go out to lunch or not, sometimes having to decide the best way to spend that $20 of discretionary income this weekend. Money is precious. It's hard to part with it.

I get it.

But there isn't any real incentive here other than making someone else's year. You won't meet any of these kids unless you're at the game yourself. Once you spend the money, it's gone. You won't see it again.

But do it anyway. You'll know you did something great for them. And you'll be a better person for it.

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Heart strings.

Blazers Edge (SB Nation partner, covering Portland) has been doing this for eight years, regularly sending more than 1,000 kids at a time! And those who donate get nothing out of it. Nada.

Check out their announcement article last year, how Dave Deckard describes the feeling of being there at those games.

Then come the stories from the night itself. Car rides or max rides in. Sometimes a special dinner. Wide eyes, like the kids can't believe they got invited to this. Walking into the Moda Center for the first time...there's something awe-inspiring about seeing the big scoreboard and the floor logo for the first time. And then when the game starts, the noise! The cheering. The stories that come pouring out afterwards from teachers and parents about how they got to see their kids smile and be kids for a while.

We've heard again and again how much this simple gesture means. You wouldn't think one game can make such a difference, but it does. As I said, last year we did this one...thousand...times...over, an incredible achievement. Our demand was also higher than ever before as news about the event spreads. We're looking to equal or exceed that number again this year.

Do it.

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Having said that, it's important to raise as much money and send as many kids to the game as possible. So there is a little incentive for the big spenders.

The Suns have been generous enough to offer a pair of lower-bowl tickets to that same game to those who individually donate at least $160 at a time (10 tickets). And, the first 25 fans to do so will be part of an exclusive Q and A session with one of the members of the Suns front office before the game starts. This will be fun. You'll get behind the scenes, meet one of these guys in private setting deep in the Suns offices and ask the hard questions you always wanted to ask. And you can be part of the pictures with the kids too!

But what if you can't make it to the game? We've got readers in nearly 200 different countries. Most of you can't go to that game, I know.

But donate anyway. You'll get the tickets via email, and you can give them to someone else.

These kids need your help.

Just do it. Donate.

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This is it, folks. This is the biggest, most important activity we've ever done on this blog. We are all here for the love of the game, and the love of the Suns.

Let's work together to make a new generation of Suns fans.

Don't make me the only one what donates. I can't do this alone, or those few kids will be real lonely in that empty section.

Donate nowsuns.com/brightsideofthesun

#BrightSideNight2015

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