Mitu's Awesome World-Saving Blog.

If you know me, you will know my love of robots, monsters, and of course world-saving projects, so you have no idea how insanely happy it makes me that this following project even exists. I just stumbled across RobotsAndMonsters.org, a charitable project that matches charitable giving with custom-made commissioned pop art. From the site:

Giving just a little bit gets you an original drawing of a robot or a monster of your specification sent to your door – and in the process, you get to sleep better at night, because you know you’ve just helped out a great cause.

Part charitable powerhouse, part experiment in collective creativity, and part underground pop-art gallery, we aim to change the world, one robot and monster at a time.

Over the past three years, Robots and Monsters has raised almost $20,000 for Water.org, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Their current cause for 2010 is Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Sadly, they seem to currently be on a well-deserved hiatus, having raised $5,000 this year already. But, they seem to be relaunching soon, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, I am definitely getting myself one of these awesome tees and/or hoodie.

This project has me really excited, mostly because it encapsulates so many of my loves: positive social action, New York City, and of course, GIANT ROBOTS.

ROBOTS>>>> is an artist collective from London which uses reclaimed wood, discarded furniture and trash to build site-specific giant robots. We have an opportunity to build our creatures with a group of children living in a New York shelter for families who have escaped domestic violence, paint a large accompanying mural in their playspace, and film the process in a documentary led by the kids. While we're in the city, we will transform the roof of a Brooklyn venue with another installation - and hopefully find other neglected public spaces ripe for surprising additions. But…we need funds to do it!

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These are kids who have undergone serious trauma, and previously had little control over their lives or living spaces. The shelter staff believe this will be a really empowering experience for them - as well as a lot of fun. So we’re appealing to the Kickstarter community to make it happen.

Alongside this project, we will design and build a giant robot on the roof of a Brooklyn venue. We will create it using discarded materials found around the city – wooden pallets, hubcaps, furniture… our design will be informed by what we find. The sculpture will meld and interact with its environment in a fun and unusual way, and aim to reignite a sense of play in its audience. It could be big enough to climb inside, or function as an exhibition space in its own right.

At the heart of the project is the intention to create public art that fully engages its audience and its surroundings with a strong positive message about responsibility and environment. Help ROBOTS>>>> invade!

This sounds like an excellent project, and you can read more here. I hope you'll consider helping out their Kickstarter campaign here to help them raise the funds they need for this worthwhile cause.

I mean, if nothing else, who doesn't want to see a giant robot sculpture on a Brooklyn rooftop, right?