While our core base of donors is primarily made up of YouTube personalities, toy manufacturers, and gaming companies, we are also incredibly fortunate to receive donations from all types of people who feel compelled to help out. This is where Kat Stratton comes into the picture.

This particular young woman was inspired by a GameChanger Charity donation campaign hosted by star streamer Markiplier and, for a school project about being an active citizen, decided to raise money for GameChanger through her own donation drive.

Here’s a snippet from the campaign page she launched on generosity.com:

“For my whole life, very few things have ever made me more passionate than a good video game. What I want is to share with people the same passion I feel every time I boot up a video game console. I knew of a charity I wanted to support and I got to work. I first learned about Game Changer through live streams hosted by Markipler and I think it is a great cause. Please check out the charity, it would mean a lot to me.<3”

Kat, who goes by @nefariousbot on Twitter, is a 13 year old who lives in Northern California and has a passion for gaming and helping others out. Kat has spent her last two summers doing humanitarian work in the Amazon of Ecuador and recently Kenya, with Pledge to Humanity and MetoWe.

While in Kenya, Kat worked with her Pledge to Humanity group to build schoolrooms in a remote village called Irkat.  She also was part of a production crew to film a documentary about the impact of the work being done there. Wow!

Kat and her mom Tawnia shared how Kat has dealt with many obstacles that relate to dyslexia and how she has been able to overcome some of the conditions that relate to this learning disability through gaming!

Kat partnered with her mom’s company 8Dio, a next-generation developer of software instruments, which helped to create discounted packages and bundles for donors of the campaign. Interesting to note, donors that contributed to Kat’s campaign via 8Dio were international composers and producers in the music industry with many of them bring video game composers!

“Children In the hospital do not have the same opportunities you or I might have. There is only so much you can do when confined to a hospital bed. Options are very limited; most physical activities are not option. Having access to digital entertainment can motivate children by providing a fun opportunity to engage with family and friends by their bedside.”

By the time the campaign was over, Kat had helped to raise $5,969.00 for GameChanger! For more details, click here to visit Kat’s campaign page.

Last we spoke, Kat and her mom were headed to NYC as Kat had earned a ticket to We Day due to her efforts with GameChanger Charity and her Pledge to Humanity humanitarian work.

We couldn’t do it alone! The help we receive from many people who love GameChanger Charity and what we stand for is always appreciated and we’re humbled by those who want to help us push forward in our mission. Click here to learn how you can help out!

The post Awesome Kid Raises Big Bucks for GameChanger first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

More often than not, when we visit hospitals, the patients we meet are going through mental and physical strain due to the nature of the treatments they’re receiving. At each and every stop, we do our best to bring a smile to the face of the children and families we meet by supplying a break from their time in the hospital.

While we strive to bring a bit of hope to every stop throughout the Gamers Give Back Tour, there are times we feel compelled to make an extra push to create a larger than life moment. On Wednesday August 23^rd, together with the good folks at Morgan Stanley Hospital in New York City, GameChanger Day was one of those moments.

Before the kids arrived in the game room, we set up an Xbox one with NBA 2K17, Minecraft, Halo 5, and LEGO Marvel Superheroes. We also had a PS4 with a Guitar Hero station ready to go so everyone could rock out as needed! Not long after we finished setting up, many different patients, along with their parents and siblings, arrived with pleasantly surprised looks on their faces. It was time to have some fun!

Nate, our resident VR expert, brought our virtual reality set up and shared new and exciting worlds with the children. The kids loved creating sculptures, characters and shapes using Medium. Faces across the room lit up when the kid’s realized they could create a sculpture in 3D and walk around with it. We also had the PS4 VR complete with a driving wheel and pedals with Driveclub ready to go along with Eagle Flight and Google Earth VR on our two Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers set-ups.

Sometimes, the raucous nature of a playroom at a hospital can be a bit intimidating for a child. It’s extremely important that we remain sensitive to the needs of the patients. In these cases, it’s the small things that count to make every child feel included. One of the boys we met was a bit shy and quietly mentioned to his mom that his favorite streamer had played Job Simulator in VR. We looked up the game and downloaded it on the spot. The mom and son duo, in which the young man used his right hand while his mom helped control with her left, played for 40 minutes and enjoyed every moment of it.

The hit of the showcase? A 4 Player version of Rocket League (think of it as soccer but with rocket-powered trucks) projected onto a jumbo screen! 4 kids at a time were at the helm clutching Xbox controllers while music from the awesome game soundtrack and sound effects emanated from a large state of the art speaker.  The matches were epic to say the least and culminated in the last game of the day where the kids were on a 4-player team against 4 CPUs.  The kids were down 4 points and came back in the last 90 seconds and won by a point!

A huge thanks to each and every team member on the Child Life staff at Morgan Stanley Hospital. We’re already in talks with their team on expanding our relationship to help build out their VR experience in the hospital and will be assisting with upgrading their teen lounge in the near future.

Like all of our efforts, none of this would be possible if not for the help of our amazing supporters who host the fundraisers that keep GameChanger Charity moving along. This past year, we had incredible efforts hosted by San Francisco Giants baseball star Hunter Pence and YouTube/Streamer star (and all around good guy) Markiplier. Portions of the funds raised from each of their efforts went toward making GameChanger Day a reality.

Engadget wrote a beautiful piece about the day. Check out this excerpt:

GameChanger takes just about anything that companies are willing to give, much of it being items that are just slightly too old for sale and are destined to be destroyed anyway. That includes tablets, gaming consoles, games and even marketing goods. Jim said GameChanger wasn’t allowed to bring tech on a recent trip to Cuba but was able to bring shirts and hats from gaming companies, which the children loved. “We’ll take anything that’s new, that’s excess material that can be repurposed that these families would love to have,” said Jim.

Click here to read the entire article.

Keep up with GameChanger Charity! Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all of our events and efforts!

The post GameChanger Day Celebrates Giving, Gaming for Children in Hospitals first appeared on GameChanger Charity.