I first met Caine last spring through a video on Vimeo about his arcade. He’s a pretty amazing kid. And I’m not alone in thinking that. 3.6 million viewers from Vimeo and 3.2 million from YouTube seem to agree.
If you haven’t been introduced yet, here’s a little background. Caine was a 9-year-old (now 10) boy who introduced the world to his cardboard arcade set up in his dad’s auto part store with the help of filmmaker Nirvan Mullick.
After coming across the arcade by accident, Nirvan went on the Internet and invited everyone in L.A. to surprise Caine by trying the arcade themselves, and he made a movie about it. Needless to say, people came, people bought fun passes, and people gave to Caine’s scholarship fund.
Not only did a lot of people give money, but kids around the world were inspired to build and share their own cardboard creations. Caine and his arcade went viral.
Because of all of this, the Imagination Foundation was started to encourage and support creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.
The first project shared by the foundation is the Cardboard Challenge. Kids around the world are encouraged to build something out of cardboard using their imagination, and on October 6th, everyone around the world will “play.” Already there are over 100 events planned in more than 25 countries.
Caine is still running his arcade, though he’s upgraded his shirt from “staff” to “boss.” And he’s still constructing things out of cardboard.
Obviously this is a great story. The strength of the narrative alone makes it powerful. But what I love most is that it’s a great example of the power of the Internet being used for good not evil.
Something we can all strive for.
I have to ask: if you could make out anything of cardboard, what would it be?
Tags: Caine's Arcade, Vimeo, YouTube
This post is categorized in: Social Media
