Saturday: Join this Twitch fundraiser for Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Some, like Technical.ly’s very own Alexandria Leggett and Anthony Wojciechowski get up ridiculously early and run a few miles as a way to drum up donations for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.

Others, like a group of technologists from Chester, Pa.-based Power Home Remodeling take a more, er, sedentary approach to fundraising: the group will be attempting to play video games for 24 hours straight in a bid to raise $1,500 for the Philly-based nonprofit.

The whole binge-gaming sesh will be streamed on Twitch. “It’s a platform that has a direct connection to a lot of people and being able to bring gaming into something like Alex’s Lemonade Stand is just fantastic,” said Gerard Thomas, part of the company’s business technology division.

The game-a-thon will feature 10 players from 12 p.m. Saturday, June 24, until 8 a.m. on Sunday. Sure, games like Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch are on the lineup, but the headliner is a game called That Dragon, Cancer, an adventure game that takes the player through a child’s struggle with cancer.

Thomas, in his mid-thirties, has been a life-long gamer. Childhood cancer, he said, is a cause that hits home.

“I have a nine-year-old daughter and I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through cancer with my daughter,” he said. “If we can somehow help another family, then that’s fantastic.”

The company partners each June with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Since 2011, Power Home Remodeling has raised $1.2 million for the foundation, either by direct employee contributions from their paychecks or through their personal networks.