it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teolis you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com and please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher you've probably noticed on facebook i talk about all kinds of great people that do wonderful things for charity i certainly think of daniel spoller and the now 44 and counting pinball machines he's putting in children's hospitals across North America with Project Pinball. Daniel, we love what you're doing. Keep up the great work. Well, there's somebody a little closer to my home that has been doing this for a little bit of time too. And she's a young woman. She's about to turn 16 years old. And when she turns 16, she will be in Ecuador because her Pinball for Change charity that her and her father Walt have done has raised over $20,000 to build classrooms. Let's find out more about that. Here's Maya Moroz. Hi, Maya. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm great and I'm so proud of you. You know that from when we see each other face to face and everything that you and your father have done for Pinball for Change. Some people listening to Pinball Profile might not know about that. So what kind of started a few years ago, you had this charity to raise money to create classrooms in Ecuador. Why don't you explain how that happened? Thank you. So we started about two, maybe three years ago, and we decided that we had been working with an organization called WE, with the WE movement, formerly known as Free the Children, that I've been involved with in my school. And so I now run the club at my school. But we wanted to connect our love of pinball and our collection of pinballs with raising money for WE. So we contacted the organization asking what would be a country that we can choose. So they sponsor eight different countries. And they said that Ecuador was one in need. And so they told us that there's a village called Canambu, Ecuador, that is in need of more classrooms. So we started holding the Pimel for Change events in our own home. We have 12 machines. And then other people started offering to host, and that kind of took off. We then raised $10,000 for our first classroom, and it got up to $15,000, and now it's over $20,000. So that kind of has gone on. And last year, on my birthday in the summer, I got surprised by my parents. They booked this trip to the Amazon in Ecuador for me over my 16th birthday. and I get to go and see the two classrooms that we funded in Canaveral, Ecuador while I'm there. Maya, I've said this to you over and over again. I'm so proud of what you've done. And really, I didn't know it extended on to your school as well. I knew from the pinball community what you've done with Pinball for Change, but I had no idea there was the school aspect and how much you've really researched into this. And now you're actually going there and going to see the fruits of your labor. Yeah. Are you excited or what? I'm extremely excited. I've been preparing for the last I think three maybe four months with getting everything and you should get packed everything I take I need to carry I purchased a travel pack I been getting everything ready I started to get to know some of the people I'm going with because I only really know one or two people that I'm going with. So I'm going with about 25 to 30 other youth ages 13 to 18 for two weeks. That's a long time to be away from the folks at such a young age. I imagine from this trip and this experience, those people you're going with are probably going to be lifelong friends too, because of the common interest you have and how you all got there because not everyone was doing pinball, so everyone did this in a different way. And boy, this is very, very exciting. I know earlier today you had to get shots for Scarlet Fever. I mean, you probably had to do a lot of things. Yeah, that was the fourth shot I've needed to get. But what a great experience. And you know, I'm a little older than you, just by a little bit, not a lot. But I regret not traveling as a young person like yourself because it is such a great life experience. So you have no idea what you're in for, and this is all good. And you're going to accelerate your maturity level by this trip alone. Yeah. $20,000. That is an incredible amount of money that you've raised. And I know there are going to be more Pinball for Change events coming up. I know your father helps run Bluffs in Scarborough, just outside of Toronto, Ontario. A lot of people were there for the IFPA Pre-15 event. That's been a real big boom for Pinball for Change, but also, too, for a very successful women's league in Blufferellas. So Blufferellas started just over, I think, a year ago by some of the women who play at Bluff. And so we play the last Tuesday of every month, and I'm a regular member, always go. We sometimes do themed nights. We just, you know, have fun, play pinball. You're a very good player, and so is your whole entire family, too. Thank you. How long have you been playing? I've been playing since my dad got his first machine, which was I was eight years old. And you fell in love with it because a lot of eight-year-olds probably are more attracted to maybe video games. I've never been into video games really. I went with him to pick up the first machine. It was a triple strike and from there we kept adding on to the collection. I started learning how to how to fix machines, change rubbers, that kind of stuff and started playing. Then Bluffs got started. I started going to Bluffs and then from there I just kept playing and then started competing. I've been in your basement. There are quite a few machines in there and it's a nice collection for sure. You play a bunch of different formats. What's your favorite? I do, yeah. My favorite is probably Flipper Friendly. It's one of my favorites just because of how fast it goes. I'm kind of a competitive person. So I prefer to play one-on-one to a group of four or a group of three. So that's probably my favorite. Do you have like a stare down, kind of a beat down, like you're not going to mess with me? Is that your kind of tactic? What is it? Because I know you've beat me before a few times, so I'm just trying to remember. I think I was crying so I can really recall your tactic Yeah I learned you know flipper skills from watching better players than me My dad taught me So it's just, you know, practicing, and it's been quite a few years now. You mentioned that flip frenzy. That's one thing at Bluffs. If you're in the Toronto area, and a lot of people are going to be coming up for things like the C&E PC in mid-August, but if you're ever in that area, check out Bluffs, especially on Thursday nights, especially in the summer. where they do a Flip Frenzy every Thursday night. I had so much fun going there, and a great collection, too. Now, this isn't your first little dabble with fame here on this podcast. You are the star of a YouTube Red series in which you and Adam Becker help build a pinball machine. Yeah. How did that all come about? So Colin Furze runs this YouTube Red show. He came out with his first season. We filmed last summer, but it came out last fall. And he had contacted Adam saying, we want to do something with pinball. And what he does is he is a plumber by trade, but he builds these incredible creations, these big. He's done like a walker from Star Wars. He's done like a flying bike. And so he contacted Adam saying, is there someone you could think of? So Adam got them in contact with us, me and my dad for Pinball for Change. and we filmed an episode where we put on an event, and then at the end they surprised us with this big, giant pinball machine that was school-themed to go with the fundraising of the classroom. When we talk about giant, we're not talking like the game Hercules. We're talking like, oh, I don't know, 20 feet wide by 40 feet long. Like, I mean, this thing was huge. Yeah, it was insane. It blew smoke out the top of it. There were huge, like I got to hold the pinball. It's like bigger than a basketball. It was incredible. It was in the middle of Adam Becker's huge driveway in Keswick. That was one of the funny things, too, when they had to figure out the weight of the ball. So they had the plunger and they had a basketball and it shot over top of the pinball machine. Or they got something a little more like a cannonball or a bowling ball, I guess you would say. And it basically crushed the wood of the pinball machine. So finding that balance, that was really funny. Yeah, and we didn't know anything about that until we saw the episode when it came out, because it was filmed over, I think it was three weeks, we filmed four different days. You got to beat Adam Becker. It wasn't pinball, but it was pretty exciting for you. I know you're quite proud of it. What was the event you beat him in? Oh, we did this kind of pinball course in this giant hamster ball kind of thing. So they built this pinball course with like trash cans and there were ramps and this kind of stuff, and we had to run through the course in a giant hamster ball. The big inflatables. Yeah a big inflatable hamster ball You really kind of gave him the gears over that I liked it Thank you It not easy to beat Adam in anything Yeah So Maya before you head off to Ecuador I just really wanted to call you and say congratulations on everything you've done for Pinball for Change. There have been a lot of people in the Ontario area that have certainly contributed and believed in your cause and will continue to believe in your cause. I know Ed Ed Robertson, the Barenaked Ladies, a family friend of yours, has been very, very helpful and very generous as well too. So there are a lot of people really rooting for you. And this is a big thing. And it's so, again, I can't say that enough. What strikes me is how mature you are at such a young age to see such an important need in a different part of the world. Yeah, thank you very much. So how does the funding work for these classrooms? Because people are going to want to find out. And again, the website is wewe.org, but we'll post that on our Facebook page. How does the money work? So when you donate, if you are donating throughout Through Pimel for Change, that money goes towards the organization, which then goes towards the new classroom. So once that money is funded, the groups that like the trip I'm going on will go and help build these classrooms, whether that's laying the foundation, which is laying the bricks with the cement or clearing the area to build the new classroom or helping with the roof or anything like that. So what we do is what they call the hand up, not a hand out, to the different communities. So they help with building those schools, but they don't do anything for the community members. And they've created a really, really strong bond with the different communities in different countries that they work in. And so when I go, I'll be helping to build, I don't know yet if it's a classroom or a well, or helping the women with the bracelets they make, which they sell, and that kind of stuff. But what they do is they put us people in trips with the locals and we help build. And then that's how that money goes. Maya, because of what you've done, you've given a bunch of children that may never have had a chance at a better life, at having an education and being able to have something sustainable and teach future generations. This never would have been possible if it weren't for people like you and what you've done with Pinball for Change. Thank you. I wish you the best of luck. I know I'll see you soon at Bluffs. Try to go easy on me on a flip frenzy if you wouldn't mind. Don't rub it in too much. Okay. All the best. My safe travels, and we'll see you soon. Thank you. Good to talk to you. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com, and please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. I'm Jeff Teols. Thank you.