The internet: It’s full of complaints and whining, especially message boards.  Trolls are everywhere stirring up e-fights and flaming board members.  While trolls are out there, Louis Fifer is helping Spawn’s message board members with Operation HABU (Hook A Brother Up).  Fifer, aka HydraSpawn on the boards, first got my attention when someone started a “Thank You” thread.  I checked it out and I was amazed that several board members donated some cash to help out fellow members who were in financial need.  I asked who organized the project and everyone pointed to Mr. Fifer.  I did some more research and noticed it wasn’t the first time he gave out gifts.

I decided to ask Louis about the project and the reasons behind it:

NERDSociety (NS):  How did project HABU start?

Louis Fifer (LF): It initially started for 2 boardies birthday’s, operation “A New Beginning”.  The initial response was fantastic, and we managed to finish the operation (Op) quickly and smoothly. Because of this response I thought why not build a community that does this on a constant basis? Using the Social Group designed on the McFarlane’s Spawn website, I created a Private Invite only group where our members could nominate new recipients for future Ops. I felt that Ops shouldn’t have to be done just for people’s birthdays, but should be done for people who go out of there way to help others, people that commit selfless acts to others as well as people who are truly in need or those who are less fortunate.

Letter to one of the recipients

NS:  How did you recruit members for the project and what are they like?

LF: Recruitment wasn’t hard, people generally want to do the right thing and are willing to help others out. I created a forum thread explaining the 5 basic questions: who, what, where, when and why, and to this day I continue to bump it for more to read and possibly join our cause. I also put some items of mine up for sale on the Spawn’s trading board and informed curious buyers that there purchase was gong towards an operation and they were welcome to join the community if they wanted to. As recipients started to receive there gifts, more people saw what we were doing and sent me a PM asking to become part of the community.

NS: How does HABU work, do the members just donate whatever/whenever they want?

LF: Almost, for the Operation “A New Beginning” there were only about 25 of us, with that Op I had everyone donate what they could, it started off with a nice size donation of $45 from one of the previous Op members and went from there. Our second operation, “Helping hands” was geared more towards a set amount of $15 from all of our members to maximize the amount that could be given to the two recipients. Both of those individuals had looming medical bills and were barely making enough to make it through the day. Our goal amount was something like $525 which would have been divided 2 ways, sadly we only raised $220, so we were only able to give each recipient $110. I know a few of our members had some cash issues and I completely understand, they were kind enough to inform us in the community thread. But others simply did not answer the call or respond with a reason. Taking the current economic environment into consideration, I simply posted both recipients Paypal addresses in the community for our members to contribute to at there convenience.

As with the rest of the members, my favorite Op was “Helping Hands”. It really is nice to help someone in need and be able to gather others to the cause. I enjoy delivering collectables to those who are deserving or unable to purchase the item themselves, but “Helping Hands” was a great opportunity to show what the community was really made of. I am grateful to all who answered the call.

One of the toys given, Hot Toys Predator (retail $170)

NS:  How do you decide who deserves cash or toys?

LF: “Helping Hands” was designed for 2 known forum members who we all believed would do the right thing once they received the money. And they were grateful for the donation they received. A cash Op will be reserved in the future for individuals who we all feel are in dire need of assistance. Sadly after we did the Op for those 2 members other imitation threads popped up stating that they needed help and so forth, but our community of “watchers” were wise to there actual needs and decided that we would not involve ourselves with those individuals.

NS:  How long did it take before the first mission was accomplished?

LF: Because “Helping Hands” was a higher priority mission, due to the financial impact it would have for the recipients, “A New Beginning” was put on hold with $65 left to finish the Op. We are currently $35 away from completing “A New Beginning” and the third and final recipient has been chosen.  This person has given whole heartedly to these Ops in a time that is hardest for him. He has been unemployed for 2 years and has no revenue coming in other then from items he sells from his own collection. This is the kind of people we attract to our community and we are grateful for members like him.

NS:  How do you choose who’ll get the mission?

LF: I am trying to get our members to work together to choose individuals to be Op’d based on previously mentioned criteria. The 5 members for the Christmas Op (next operation) were suggested by several of our members. I would like our community to be the “watchers” of the Spawn Forum, and in return we would reward those who take the initiative to pay it forward. Not only do we try to gift those who give selflessly but we also try to gift those who are unable to afford or find a collectible they would like to add to there collection, “Grails” as they are known.

NS: Any final words you want to the readers?

LF: Pay it Forward, we would all be in a better place if people would just Pay if Forward.

Here are a couple of threads about the project:

Operation Helping Hands Part 1

Operation Helping Hands Part 2

Operation A New Beginning Part 1

Operation A New Beginning Part 2

On behalf of NERDSociety, we’d like to personally thank Louis and the members of Operation HABU for their kind work!

If you’d like to help out, contact us at info@nerdsociety.com with the title “Operation HABU” and we’ll forward the message to Louis.

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