ModSquad’s Gaming Marathon Helps Heal Kids
There are few things more fulfilling than putting your heart into helping others. This past weekend, ModSquaders around the world went all out for Extra Life 2018, playing games and fundraising for 24 hours straight, all in the name of helping the kids receiving care at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. It’s a cause that’s close to our hearts, and it’s always humbling to see the outpouring of support and enthusiasm from streamers, donors, and viewers.
For our fifth year participating in this annual event, we set what we thought was a high but achievable fundraising goal of $8,000. When all was said and done, we more than doubled that, raising over $16,000, 100% of which goes to helping heal children.
You’d think after 24 hours we’d be wiped out, but time flies when you’re doing good! So in case you missed any of the fun, or just want to walk down short-term memory lane, here’s a recap of how this awesomely memorable event played out.
Pre-Game Day
We just couldn’t wait until Saturday, November 3 to get our stream and fundraising started. We kicked off daily live streaming on Monday, October 29, with different ModSquaders gaming all afternoon and evening in the name of Extra Life.
Internally, we geared up for the big day with some trivia questions to make sure we were all on the ball with our Extra Life knowledge. See if you can get all five questions right (answers are at the end):
- Fill in the blank: This is ModSquad’s ___ year in a row participating in Extra Life.
- What charity benefits from the funds raised by ModSquad’s participation in Extra Life?
- What day and time does ModSquad’s Extra Life livestream begin this year?
- Name one of the on-site activities that will be triggered when a donation is received.
- What is Extra Life’s motto?
Game Day
We kicked things off bright and early Saturday morning, streaming live on Twitch, Mixer, Facebook and YouTube from four locations: our three operations centers in Sacramento, California; Austin, Texas; and Derry, Northern Ireland; as well as Clarksville, Tennessee.
From I Am Bread and Guilt Battle Arena to a collection of Jackbox Games Party Packs, our stream teams kept things going as the donations continued to roll in. Before we even hit the halfway mark, we’d already exceeded our $8,000 fundraising goal.
To add to the fun, every donation we received triggered an activity at one of our stream team locations.
Our Derry office took whipped cream to the face for every $1-10 donation (all 26 of them).
Our Tennessee streamers took the Beanboozled challenge for every $11-20 donation (seen below: spoiled milk jelly bean).
For every $51+ donation, someone in Sacramento took a bite of a mystery pie (some got lucky with Jell-O and gummy worms, while others forced down bites of ketchup and frozen burrito).
And by far the most entertaining of challenges was at our Austin office, where each $21-50 donation resulted in a spin of the Hot Sauce Roulette wheel (RIP taste buds).
Amid all the fun, we kept in mind the reason we had all gathered: to help heal kids. Our Tennessee streamers were joined by Team Angelo, who inspired us with their touching story. Even though Angelo is no longer with us, we know the funds we raised will go to helping kids just like him.
We Gamed. We Saw. We Fundraised.
By the event’s end, we raised far more than our initial goal. Those funds, combined with the $5,000 dollar-for-dollar contribution made by ModSquad, means we raised a total of over $16,000 to date across our 26 members of Team ModSquad. This money will go to helping kids at the 18 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across North America selected by our team members. If you want to help us make an even bigger difference, you can still donate through the end of 2018.
We want to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone who was a part of this unforgettable event. Whether you donated, fundraised, streamed, watched live, ate unsavory pies, breathed fire from too many hot wings, tasted the worst jelly beans ever, took whipped cream to the face, played trivia, liked, commented, shared, or any combination of the above, we could not have done this without you. THANK YOU!
Now who’s ready to start planning for 2019? 😉
Trivia Answers:
1. 5th 2. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals 3. November 3, 8 a.m. PT 4. Pie Face, Beanboozled, Hot Wing Roulette, or Mystery Pie Challenge 5. Play Games. Heal Kids.