CMU Esports to co-host annual 'Extra Life' fundraiser for children's hospital
Esports has practice in the SAC on Sept. 11, 2020.
Despite balancing classes, practices and matches, players from CMU's Esports teams will be staying up all night Saturday to play video games -- for a fantastic cause.
This weekend, CMU Esports will be co-hosting a 24-hour live gaming event with Esports Club at CMU to raise funds for the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids.
The event is hosted through a foundation called Extra Life, which allows gamers to stream video games on Twitch, a live-streaming platform, and collect donations to go directly to a Children's Miracle Network Hospital of the streamer's choice.
This year's fundraiser will run from Nov. 7 at noon to Nov. 8 at noon, and will be streamed live on CMU Esports' Twitch channel. Donations for the event will be collected through the program's Extra Life page.
The Student Program Coordinator for CMU Esports, Alexis Limban, said the participants plan to host a variety of games for viewership, such as "League of Legends," "Rocket League," "Among Us" and more.
"As we started building our esports program, we wanted to encourage professional development and we wanted to help give back," Limban said. "So we thought, 'what better way to raise money than doing what we love through Extra Life?'"
Although Esports Club at CMU has been hosting the event for at least three years, this will be the first year that CMU Esports will co-host. Esports players will be taking over the stream from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and volunteers from the club will be streaming from home for the remainder of the event.
Katherine Hanchon, the head coach and adviser for CMU Esports, was proud of the initiative and collaboration her teams have shown for this event.
“A lot of what I do is about player development and being able to give them (the players) a chance to give back in a way that is related to what they’re passionate about with video games but combining it with community outreach," Hanchon said. "Honestly, it is the best thing to watch it all come together.”
She added that the plan to continue this annual fundraiser in collaboration with the club was an idea of the players' own and they were passionate about continuing the yearly tradition.
"These are students that are committed to this kind of fundraising," Hanchon said. "It was their idea to continue the involvement, and they were all super excited about it. Honestly, I’m excited to see what they do.”
