Extra Life 2013 is live! Play games for children's charities!

[sachmo71]

Hi everyone! I wanted to let everyone know that registration for Extra Life 2013 just opened, and was hoping that anyone who is interested in playing games to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network.

On November 2nd, gamers around the world with gather to play games of all sorts for 25 hours with the purpose of raising money for the Children's Miracle Network. There is no restriction on what games that will be played, nor whether they are played alone or in groups, but the most important is to have fun and get friends and family to pledge money to support the participants.

This will be my third year to participate in Extra Life, and I have to tell you, I really love taking part in it. It adds such an element of fun to something that I love, and knowing that I am raising money for children's hospitals around the country is a wonderful feeling.

Last year, Extra Life raised 2 million dollars for Children's Miracle Network, which is great! However, I would love to get a bigger group together this year, so I'm hitting you guys up first. Please consider registering to participate and possibly join my team. It's going to be fun!

Play Games. Heal Kids. | Extra Life - DonorDrive®

[JPhillips]

If it were a different date I'd be interested. The 2nd, though, is the Sat. before my play opens and I'll be working all day.

[sachmo71]

You can play on any day you would like. The 2nd is the "big day" where all of the blogging and updates will go out, but they make it clear that you can actually participate on any day. It would suck to lose anyone who wants to help because of scheduling conflicts.

For most participants, this year's event begins at 8am on November 2nd, 2013, however please remember that you can participate in Extra Life on any date that fits your life and schedule. There's just no scheduling reason not to participate, because Extra Life is the fundraising effort that's built around YOU.

[JPhillips]

Then I'm in. I'll have to do it later in November or in September.

I'm also going to talk to our Student Activities folks about this. This would be a great way to get students participating in public service that may not normally have engaging ways to get involved.

[sachmo71]

I like the way you think, sir! It would be cool if we could break $2m this year, and having more young folks onboard would be a great way to do that!

[sachmo71]

Wow, there are already 588 teams that have signed up for Extra Life 2013!

Ermagerd. Over 588 teams have already registered for this year's Extra Life event on November 2nd.

[sachmo71]

signing up for Extra-Life 2013 is a great way to make your video game time feel productive! Please consider signing up! Play Games. Heal Kids. | Extra Life - DonorDrive®!

[JPhillips]

I signed up on your team.

I'll have the college kids do a separate team.

[sachmo71]

good to have you!

Looks like today is donation day! We're already at $175! YAY!

[sachmo71]

i've raised $1050 so far! Join up if you want to play games for charity!

[JPhillips]

School started this week and I've recruited two captains for the college team. They are very excited and talking about how to get a console room and a PC room set up.

[sachmo71]

We've been contacted by a Children's Miracle Network coordinator here in Dallas about possible fundraising ideas and ways to spread awareness for Extra-Life. I have a few, but does anyone have an ideas they can post? I really want to get this charity out there, because I think if it became more mainstream it could make boatloads of money.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

School started this week and I've recruited two captains for the college team. They are very excited and talking about how to get a console room and a PC room set up.

this is awesome! how big is the college team? I'd like to support them.

[JPhillips]

I don't know yet, and college kids are notoriously less than reliable, but I'm hoping for a dozen at least with a goal of 200$ per person.

We have to do it two weeks later than the date due to the play I'm directing, but I've got a group excited that would normally not fit into many of the charitable things at the college.

[sachmo71]

we are at a little less than 2 weeks to go before the great 2013 extra life extravaganza! if you have some time, please consider signing up and raising money for your local children's hospital!

Play Games. Heal Kids. | Extra Life - DonorDrive®

[sachmo71]

if you sign up for extra life, you can get a bunch of free stuff from Trion Worlds including the Rift and Defiance starter packs!

[sachmo71]

Extra-Life made CNN!

Playing video games to raise millions for charity - CNN.com

[JPhillips]

My team at the college needs extra motivation. I've got to start bugging them every day.

btw- We're going to do this on Nov. 16 so it doesn't conflict with the play that I'm directing.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

My team at the college needs extra motivation. I've got to start bugging them every day.

btw- We're going to do this on Nov. 16 so it doesn't conflict with the play that I'm directing.

show them some pictures of sick kids. that usually works.

good luck!

[JPhillips]

They are all going to Facebook every day from now until the event. That at least gets them going.

Now if I could only get some people donating for me!

[sachmo71]

Here's some info I got from our CMN Ambassador on raising funds. These tips might help:

Happy spamming! I always have more luck when I translate dollars into what they buy for our hospital--that way the numbers feel less arbitrary. Here are some stats you can use:

$12: One package of preemie diapers
$35: Local anesthetic to numb injection site
$50: One high chair
$90: Pediatric sphygmometer (blood pressure cuff)
$85: Portocath set-up to administer chemotherapy/draw blood
$300: Rocking chair for patient's room
$650: One chemotherapy injection
$1,000: 4-hour outpatient chemotherapy infusion
$4,000: Average cost of test to diagnose cancer
$5,000: Cost of one day of ICU level care
$5,000: One heart monitor
$48,000: One Giraffe Bed (neonatal incubator)

I'm also attaching a CMN Hospitals infographic that has facts that would work too

ex. $1 for every baby that's treated in the NICU of our CMN Hospital every hour = $39

We often translate cost into "number of Miracle Balloons" for our corporate sponsors--here's one of my favorite videos. It's not entirely applicable, but it does a great job of sharing how our hospitals use funds from Extra Life.

[sachmo71]

btw...this week is when people raise the majority of their funds.

[sachmo71]

I've reached my goal, but I'm not going to let that stop me. If you have some extra money lying around, and would like something to write off this year, please consider donating!

Extra Life | Play Games. Heal Kids. - DonorDrive®


THANK YOU!!!

[JPhillips]

I haven't reached my goal, so if you don't want to help him, help me!

Extra Life | Play Games. Heal Kids. - DonorDrive®

Thanks!

[sachmo71]

Happy halloweeeeeen! If you want to help give treats to some kids, please leave your porch light on! If you want to help out some sick kids, consider donating to Extra Life! We'll give you the treat of playing games for 25 hours in YOUR HONOR!

Extra Life | Play Games. Heal Kids. - DonorDrive®

[sachmo71]

FYI, JPhillips, that your link in my post. Don't want to compete with you!

[sachmo71]

happy extra life day everyone! I'm starting with Arkham Origins. So excited! Thanks for the support, everyone!

[JPhillips]

Good luck!

[sachmo71]

thanks, jphillips!

It's been a fun day, but sort of sad. Someone hit the payment site for Extra Life with a DDOS attack. It took the page down for about 3 hours. I can't figure out why that would happen, but it's over now.

what that means is that we are behind in fund raising. So if you have the extra money, or have friends who have extra money, please, please give. you don't have to give to me...they have a page where you can donate straight to the hospital without requiring registration. I'll post it below.

Thanks to you all for helping. We couldn't do it without you.

www.extra-life.org/donate

[JPhillips]

I've been keeping up with the website issues. I can't imagine who would think it's funny to take shots at a charity event raising money for Children's hospitals.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I've been keeping up with the website issues. I can't imagine who would think it's funny to take shots at a charity event raising money for Children's hospitals.

I don't know either. It boggles the mind, quite honestly. I've head that the hacker "community" is pretty upset about it as well. I hope so, and I hope the retribution is harsh enough to keep future attacks away from hospitals, aid organization, and charity events. It's not funny, it's not impressive, and it's not warranted.