Bright Side Night 2015 Update: Top 10 reasons to donate for the Nov 14 game!

The Phoenix Suns and your friendly neighborhood Suns blog have partnered up to send underprivileged kids to a Suns game on Saturday, November 14, 2015.

Just over a week from now!

These underprivileged kids will be identified by Suns charities and community service groups, made up primarily of kids who live in challenging areas and/or whose families don't have the kind of money it takes to have a night out at a Suns game. That's probably 90% of the kids in this city, actually.

The Suns are organizing the event, getting the tickets out to the kids and their chaperones and making sure they have a great time at the arena.

All we, at the Bright Side, have to do is generate the donated tickets from among our vast reader base. Easy right? LOL

We are just over 550 tickets as of today, which is GREAT, but still under the bar I'd wanted to set for us. And there's only FOUR DAYS left to donate before we have to lock it down to get all the tickets distributed!

Need a reason to donate? Or, if you've donated already, need a reason to donate again?

Well, here's 10 of them...

Top Ten Reasons to donate

—*— Beating the Blazers

Our brother site, BlazersEdge.com, is a really cool community for real basketball fans who follow their team through thick and thin. They’ve been blessed with some good draft picks and have survived more than one rebuild, yet their fandom is strong.

They started this same kind of donation drive eight years ago, and now regularly top 1,000 tickets a year. It’s a staple of their community, a badge of honor.

Don’t you want to take some of that honor away? Don’t you want to prove to them that Phoenix fans are better? We just beat them twice in a row last week - we can’t have their fans have the last laugh, can we?

Donate! Don’t give them that satisfaction!

—*— Making a kid’s night/week/year

We’ve talked about this before. Going to a Suns game, at any age, is one of the coolest things you can do. Doing so as a kid can be a life-changer. Especially when you go with your friends, because then you can talk about it for years. My daughter still talks about her class trip to see a game thanks to donated tickets, and is still a Suns fan to this day because of it even though she doesn’t have many Suns fans around her anymore to commiserate with.

Make someone’s memory. Every $16 donated is one more kid whose life is changed for the better.

—*— Making the whole greater than the sum of the parts

BSotS is a really great community. We’ve been fans of the Suns for many years together, and come to BSotS every day to bitch, moan, cheer, snark and even fight sometimes. It’s like a family.

Here’s your chance to contribute to making BSotS something to be proud of, something greater than just a bunch of bloggers and fans. By contributing to this great cause, you’re making a stamp on the Suns community as a whole, extending the reach of our little community to those in need.

You’ve gotten something great out of this blog. Now it’s time to give something back.

—*— Cheering by proxy

Many of you never get to a game yourself. Or don’t get there often enough for your liking. Here’s your chance to send someone in your stead.

This time, instead of it being some other team’s fan who gets the seat, or some fuddy-duddy who wants the people around them to quiet down while they meditate through the game and only stand for the chance at a free T-Shirt, you can fill that seat with a rowdy Suns fan who’s totally into the game!

—*— Bringing life back to the arena

The more of these tickets we donate, the more excitable, cheering Suns fans will be in the building. No one cheers louder than a bunch of kids attending the game together on a really cool Saturday night.

The Suns rarely sell out anymore. Here’s your chance to fill the arena with fans who will cheer all game long for the Suns to win!

—*— Creating a new generation of Suns fans

Like I’ve mentioned, my youngest daughter became a real Suns fan when she went to a game with her class. Before you say that’s because her dad is a blogger (we all KNOW how cool that is), her two sisters really aren’t fans in the same sense because they didn’t have the experience their younger sister did.

Some significant portion of these kids will become new Suns fans, or will develop a deeper appreciation for their favorite team as a result of this one night. There’s something about being at the game and getting special attention from Suns staffers and the Gorilla - and even take home some Suns bling - that makes Suns devotion stronger.

Do your part!

—*— Asking the tough questions to Ryan McDonough

For those of you who donate 10+ tickets, you get your own pair of free lower-bowl tickets. You ALSO get to attend a pre game meet and greet with GM Ryan McDonough. He's impressed with our efforts and personally promised to be there for the Q and A. Here's your chance to ask all the questions you ever had.

Donate to get your own exclusive FO time with BSotS members.

—*— Improving your health

You’re not really going to miss that $16 too much. That’s like maybe 2 drinks at the bar. Or a meal at a restaurant. Or a couple trips to the drive-thru dollar menu.

If you’re like most of us, you can get healthier just by giving your money to a greater cause and saving on those calories!

—*— Getting a tax deduction

Like with any donation, you can count this as a charitable donation on your taxes and owe Uncle Sam just a little bit less next spring. Who doesn’t want that?

—*— Making our permanent mark in the community

Online media, and blogs especially, have been climbing the mountain of respectability for years now. This annual 'Bright Side Night' will further solidify that we are here for more than just a chance to scream into the internets and have our crazy thoughts and feelings validated by other super fans.

We’re here for something bigger and better. And we’re here to stay.

The Suns have never done anything like this with a blog before. This donation (upwards of $10,000 worth of tickets) is a pure grass-roots campaign unique to BSotS. And it will always be unique to us. The Suns might use this blueprint to build more ticket drives in the future, but were the first.

Let’s set the bar so high that no one else can beat it (except us, next year).

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Which is YOUR top reason to donate? Share it in the comments!

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Here's How To Donate

• 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
• Provide the payment method, and voila! you're done
• You will get a confirmation email directly from the Suns

*If you donated 10 tickets, you will get a separate call from a Suns rep to discuss your free pair of lower bowl tickets. You can use them yourself, give them to anyone you want, or donate them as well. Your call!