The 501st Legion was founded as a fun club to let Star Wars fans show off their amazing, screen accurate costumes. Since its very early days, however, the Legion has become a force for good in our territories. Rather than profiting from our appearances, the money we collect is donated to charity. Generally we lean towards children’s charities but this is in no way fixed. As long as the cause is worthy, we will be willing to give it our support.
At the Scandinavian Sci-Fi, Game and Film Convention in Stockholm in 2006, Nordic Garrison’s members made our first attempt to collect money for charity. We hadn’t yet decided who we would make our donations to, just that we wanted to do our bit to help. We asked the public to pay 25SEK to take a photograph with us against our Death Star background. The result was much better than we hoped and we raised 7000 SEK. We then stepped things up and offered the chance to buy a printed photograph, then a photo mounted on a homemade background and finally a photo in a professionally printed folder just like you get at theme parks all around the world.
Nowadays we attend several large events each year and, on an average weekend, collect around $4000. From that we deduct the expense of producing the photo folders, printer ink and so on and then a further 10% which is used to develop Nordic Garrison’s stands around our territory. The remainder is donated to charity.
We also attend corporate events where we charge a fee which is also donated to charity.
Our goal is not to make money for ourselves but to help others. If you are interested in having us attend an event then please Contact Us.
Supported charities
We support a large number of charities but each country within our territory has nominated one primary charity. These are:
Denmark
The Children’s Cancer Foundation has existed since 1995. Throughout these years, the fund has provided substantial support for research in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children - including research that examines how to tailor treatment to the individual child, so it will be possible to avoid side effects in both the short and long term.
Finland
The Finnish National Committee for UNICEF was established in 1967 to raise funds for UNICEF programmes around the world both for the protection of children in emergencies and for UNICEF’s longer-term work. UNICEF Finland raises funds through donations from individuals, organisations and companies. The Committee’s basic operations include a variety of information, advocacy and fund-raising campaigns and other nation-wide activities
Norway
St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, is integrated with NTNU and is owned by the Central Norway Regional Health Authority.
The main tasks of the hospital are patient treatment, education of patients and their relatives, research, and education for health professionals.
Sweden
The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation is a non-profit association financed by donations and bequests. The foundation receives no financial support from the state, county councils or municipalities.
We also support several other charities within our territory:
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- The Red Cross is an international humanitarian relief agency, with Red Cross or Red Crescent societies in 187 countries. The basic principle of the organisation is the protection of human life and rights in order to work towards worldwide peace.
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- The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation is a non-profit association financed by donations and bequests. The foundation receives no financial support from the state, county councils or municipalities.
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- BRIS (Children’s Rights in Society) aims to strengthen the rights of young people and improve their living conditions. They support vulnerable young people in particular, and provide chances for them to engage with adults.
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- The Children’s Cancer Society is a nationwide volunteer organization run by the parents of children who have had or still have cancer.
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- Sykehuset Innlandet will provide excellent and equitable health services to all who need it, when they need it, regardless of age, place of residence, ethnicity, gender and economics.
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- Nalles Resa is a non-profit organisation whose goal is to brighten the lives of sick children and their families. They are primarily involved with children suffering from cancer and heart or brain diseases.
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- Clownronden is a group of hospital clowns consisting of professional artists who are specially trained to work with sick and disabled children and young people. Every week they visit child clinics in Malmö, Helsingborg, Kristianstad, Ystad and Landskrona.
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- Familier med kræftramte børn is an independent patient organization that conveys personal contact and support to families with children with cancer and raises awareness of the conditions in which young people with cancer and their families live.
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- The concept of Musikhjälpen is as simple as it is entertaining. With an engaging attitude and music at the centre, they meet young and old, rich and poor and agree on the simplest of ideas: that your contribution, small or large, makes a difference.
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- MSF brings humanitarian medical assistance to victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics or healthcare exclusion.
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- Drottning Silivias children’s hospital is Sweden’s largest, most complete child and youth hospitals. For many children treatment is all about waiting. The foundation’s task is to help the children to forget about their illness, at least for a while.
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- The Red Cross is one of the world’s largest humanitarian networks. Their goal is to prevent and alleviate human suffering regardless of who it affects and how it is caused.
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- Make-A-Wish Wish Foundation’s purpose is to fulfill the wishes of children from 3-18 years old living in Denmark, suffering from a life-threatening illness. They try to make the child’s highest and innermost desire a reality.
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- Mustachkampen is an annual charity drive organised by Cancerfonden to try and raise money for and awareness of prostate cancer.
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- Diabetesfonden supports research into diabetes to try and find causes and cures for the illness. Their goal is for people with diabetes to live a long life free from problems related to the illness.
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- Ronald McDonald Children’s Fund’s vision is to make life easier for seriously ill children and their families in connection with treatments or visits to the country’s hospitals.
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