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Supporting Those that Support the Kids: Gaming Industry

This is the latest in a series of posts highlighting those who have done so much to help kids and now society as a whole during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the other posts here

Extra Life, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals peer-to-peer fundraising program, has been uniting people through gaming #ForTheKids since 2008. We’re so thankful that now, more than ever, people are uniting to help their local children’s hospitals through gaming. We want to celebrate and share a few ways Extra Life participants and partners have helped support children’s hospitals recently:

Extra Life United: Online Edition powered by Twitch

Twitch, major live streaming platform and supporter of CMN Hospitals’ Extra Life program is rallied live-streamers to support the children’s hospitals COVID-19 impact fund through their support of Extra Life United: Online Edition. Thousands of gamers registered and hundreds competed in Extra Life’s sixth annual Extra Life United gaming tournament, raising more than $374,000 for 170 children’s hospitals in the United States and Canada.

A significant portion of our Extra Life United: Online Edition total was raised by longtime supporters of Extra Life, Mindcrack Network. They hosted two streams and raised $50,000. Last year Mindcrack raised their $1 millionth dollar for Extra Life!

Thanks to all of the participants for competing to win funds and for those who fundraised during the event made possible by these incredible sponsors: Twitch, Skillz, HyperX, ASUS, Kontrol Freek and Way.

GameStopGives

GameStop’s support of CMN Hospitals continues to grow and more recently was shown by their delivery of much-needed technology to one of our Network hospitals. They also shared in congratulating Extra Life Hackathon’s final four with $1,000 in gift cards.

Extra Life Hackathon

We’d like to thank those Extra Lifers and the Hackathon panel of judges who generously donated their time and creativity to help shape the future of the Extra Life program. Take a look at the final four 2020 Hackathon presentations:

Humble Bundle 

Humble Bundle, a digital storefront, raised nearly $1M in 2019 for CMN Hospitals. Their mission is to support charity while providing awesome content to customers at great prices. Right now you can buy games and keep your family entertained during the quarantine. Be sure to use the Extra Life referral code and select Extra Life & CMN Hospitals as your charity of choice!

Community Support

An Extra Lifer playing for Children’s Health in Dallas has been 3D printing mask straps to make wearing PPE more comfortable for those on the frontlines. Read more: here http://cmnh.co/O7

Tens of thousands of Extra Lifers raise funds year-round for their selected Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Those funds help pediatric patients like Cooper:

While we move through uncharted times, we are grateful for the continued support of the gaming community and its impact on our mission to change kids’ health, change the future.

You can register to play games, heal kids at extra-life.org.