On Friday, September 16th, a team of gamers from the Quad Cities area will hold their first annual MegaMan For Healing fundraiser supporting Child’s Play Charity.
MegaMan For Healing is a multi-day charity drive broadcast live online. The event starts with a group of gamers attempting to complete a list of levels from the MegaMan video game franchise by CAPCOM. Viewers add levels to the players’ queue by making donations to Child’s Play. This live-streamed cat-and-mouse game continues until the team successfully completes all of the unlocked levels or the team runs out of levels to play, whichever comes first. During the event, viewers will be encouraged to interact with the team via the website, as well as through popular social media services Twitter and Facebook.
“While I’ve never benefited from Child’s Play’s programs, I know the power of their vision first-hand,” says Cody Wilson, Event Coordinator, who was inspired to organize this event in part due to a life experience. “As a boy, I broke my arm right before school let out for the summer. Due to the nature of the break, I was placed in an immobilizer and wasn’t permitted to play outside. My mother saved money until she could buy me a Super Nintendo, which kept my spirits up through the summer.” As for why he chose to organize an event like this, Wilson answers, “It works. Gamers love reliving classic moments from childhood, and people love watching other people do silly, entertaining things on the Internet. Combine those two things and add in the fact that you’re doing it all for charity, and you see why over 12.7% of Child’s Play’s 2010 donations were raised by two events that inspired our own.”
The Child’s Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org) is a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children staying in an international 70 hospital network. Child’s Play has distributed over $10 million worth of video games, toys, books, and money since the charity formed in 2003. “Child’s Play is fortunate to have such incredible community support,” says Jamie Dillion, Project Manager for Child’s Play. “Events like MegaMan For Healing really make a huge difference: the funds raised go directly to buying games, consoles, and handhelds for children in hospitals around the world.”
The event will stream live over the Internet at www.megamanforhealing.com beginning September 16th at 12 PM CDT.