History for Haiti: Rod Roddenberry's online "garage sale," through Friday 1/29

Here's another example of how the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. Even if it's a Kaferian apple.

Rod Roddenberry is having a virtual "garage sale" online at his Facebook page to clean out Gene and Majel's longtime Bel-Aire house ...

And everything goes to Haitian relief, via HaitianHero.com.

Knowing so many might like a memento from their favorite Star Trek creator, he's got a photo gallery of items and a simple online auction going.

But hurry, the auction ends this Friday, Jan. 29, at 11:59 PM. Rod has a long background of the project on that Facebook page, and roddenberry.com has it up as well.

But on the side, Rod told me a little more about it: a great win-win-win that started when he sold the house—the end of an era in itself—and had to have it totally emptied of "stuff" by the end of this month. And thee was a lot:

Rod says: "How else to get rid of things that I felt were of some value, but not something I wanted to keep? Give it away! And to who else but ... the fans." He started on Twitter last weekend, but the 140-character limit was too much—and then came the Facebook idea, a perfect auction forum.

"I had been wanting to so something for Haiti and figured I'd just donate personally (which I'm still doing)," Rod says. "But then with the help of a friend, it dawned on me that I could 'auction' the family items and send all proceeds to the Haiti relief. This way everyone would win: I'd see that these items got a good home and were not trashed; fans would get some cool Roddenberry family stuff; and most importantly, the people of Haiti would get at some help. Everyone should feel good about what they've done in the end."

The first 24 hours raised $3,000, and he's hoping to hit $20,000 by Saturday.

Now, Rod does promise a big estate sale of major items (like Gene's desk) in July in Las Vegas. But for everything made from the Facebook auction, Rod has pledged to match 1:1 for HaitianHero.com.

Rod calls this part of his legacy "The Roddenberry Effect." He already has the Roddenberry Dive Team so fan divers can explore that final frontier, and protect it.
to work
So, like I said: like father, like son. Rod's putting another great aspect of his family's "effect" on millions of people, and giving them a chance in turn to spread the caring.

Boldy bid!