Gamers for Giving canceled its in-person event. Here’s how to participate online

Last May, students at St. George’s Technical High School in Middletown held a game-a-thon fundraiser with proceeds going toward Gamers Outreach Foundation, a Michigan-based nonprofit that provides equipment and technology that allows hospitalized kids access to video games. The students set a goal to donate at least one GOKart — a movable game system that can be brought to the bedside — to a local hospital.

The nonprofit, which provides accessible gaming pods to hospitals across the country, recently canceled this year’s Gamers for Giving live fundraising tournament at EMU Convocation Center on the Eastern Michigan University campus due to COVID-19. But the organization is still aiming to raise its $700,000 goal via its Online Fundraising Marathon on March 28 and 29, which gamers can join from anywhere.

There’s no better time for local gamers to get involved, with the tournament cancellation serving as a potential financial hit for an org that provides a service for hospitalized kids — one that has been shown to improve the quality of life to the point that some doctors actually prescribe video game time to reduce anxiety and even pain.

If you’re interested in participating in the Online Fundraising Marathon, you can start our own Tilitify fundraising campaign and/or stream the marathon live on the Gamer’s Outreach Twitch channel.