If you shop at Target, here is how you can support GameChanger

1. Open your Target app
2. Tap on “Circle”
3. Select “Vote for nonprofits”
4. Add your votes to GameChanger Charity

About Target Circle

Using Target Circle, shoppers can earn 1% in Target Circle earnings rewards each time they make an eligible purchase at Target, in-store and online. Shoppers can save on items, claim earnings for discounts, and keep track of the amount of money they’ve saved/earned using the program. Alongside these many benefits, Target Circle members can earn votes to support a nonprofit in their community. Shoppers can earn one vote on every eligible purchase. Sign up and learn more at www.target.com/circle. 

The post Vote GameChanger for Target Circle first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

Though these times were difficult, we at GameChanger never strayed from our mission: To change the game for sick kids. That still remains priority number one! The last couple of years were especially difficult for hospitalized children who, during the pandemic, were more isolated than ever. This motivated us more than anything.  With our absence on social media, we realize that you may have not heard about the amazing things GameChanger has been doing recently so we’d like to get you caught up:

• We partnered with EA to bring consoles, games, and love to hospitalized kids. GameChanger was able to deliver over 825,000 hours of gaming for hospitalized kids and families. We were also able to provide educational services and gifts of EA games for kids to bring home from their hospital stays. 
• Donated Playwell gaming systems to 7 children’s hospitals. These systems empowered hospitalized children with the power of gaming and entertainment.
• When the war in Ukraine broke out, GameChanger sent aid to displaced Ukrainian children with illnesses.
• Provided funding for 5 college scholarships to students that instead of being at school, were stuck in hospital rooms.
• Began work with top-ranking pediatric health care providers to test patients using video games to keep them on mental health, diabetes, and asthma protocols. In this program, children get video game downloads when they do their protocols.
• Dropped off gifts while traveling from San Francisco to San Diego during our “Road Trip for Good” program.

Because of our disappearance from social media, we weren’t able to keep our amazing supporters updated, which is something we never want to happen again. We have some incredible things planned for 2023 and want to bring everyone along for the ride. By the time you’re reading this, our social media accounts will have been relaunched. Follow our journey and change the game in your own ways: 

instagram.com/gamechangerorg

twitter.com/gamechangerorg

facebook.com/gamechangerorg

linkedin.com/company/gamechangerorg/

The post GameChanger Returns to Social Media and Reviews 2022 first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

Along with our team, volunteers from EA and Twitch were in attendance to play games with the kids and hand out fun gifts to hospital patients and their siblings.

When bringing therapeutic gaming and VR to children in hospitals, there’s always a source of inspiration to behold. It comes from witnessing the resilience of children patients who have a sense of wonder that only a young person can have and from the caring Child Life staff we meet.

In a similar way, inspiration fills the room when you experience volunteers coming to one of our Play Days. Generally speaking, these are people who like to take a moment out of their busy schedules to bring a bit of cheer to children staying in hospitals.

Volunteering was a core element of our recent GameChanger Play Day.

GameChanger Charity was thrilled to be invited to EA’s 11^th Annual Nonprofit showcase. Located at EA’s headquarters in Redwood City, California, the day featured various charities that expressed interest in working with volunteers from the EA team.

The offer we established for employees was to join us for a Play Day at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital where they would spend time playing games with children staying at the hospital in order to bring a bit of fun to their day.

The more we talked with folks at EA the more we could see that the people who came by to discuss GameChanger’s mission were enthusiastic about putting energy toward a cause.

Fast-forward a couple weeks later to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco. Not only did we have four amazing team members from EA join us, we also had a crew from Twitch Charity in attendance along with talented music streamer Tammy Byerly.

We had two rooms available for use. One of them, a digital AV lab that UCSF Benioff created to be used exclusively by their patients, featured a green screen along with just about any resource one would need to create a TV show and let their imagination run wild.

We set up 2 VR devices. One, an HTC Vive, which had various games like Fruit Ninjas and Tilt Brush. The other, a PSVR with VR Worlds that featured a virtual luge game. David Arditti and Nate Aschenbach, our resident VR Specialists and all-around good guys, managed the gaming and helped guide the kids through new experiences in the virtual reality space.

The next room over was a teen lounge where multiple consoles were set-up with a variety of games including Guitar Hero, Star Wars Battlefront, FIFA 2018, Super Smash Bros on Wii-U, and an Oculus VR headset featuring Medium, an art game where you draw in a 3D space!

We also had games spilling out into the hallways including Marvel’s Lego Avengers and Angry Birds Star Wars, which is also where our table of gifts was located where patients, brothers and sisters were able to choose from an assortment of fun gifts.

Toys we brought along were supplied by our awesome partners at Hasbro and included Mr. Potato Head, Nerf Basketball sets, Upwords Board Games, Baby Alive dolls and Marvel Iron Man Action Figures. SkyLanders were available as well, which Activision has so graciously donated.

It seemed that as soon as we set up a group of kids came to play! With excited smiles, the patients and siblings adventured through VR landscapes and enjoyed playing the various games with our volunteers.

A highlight to note, Tammy Byerly played her guitar for one of the patients who was delighted to experience such a unique talent singing right in front of them. As a special bonus, EA donated some of their top new games to the hospital so patients could have access to some of the newest and best video games out today.

A big thanks goes to the volunteers from EA and Twitch that joined us for GameChanger Play Day! Of course, we can’t thank UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital enough for having us. Stay tuned for more from GameChanger Charity and our partnerships with awesome companies like these by following us on our Twitter!

The post Play Day at UCSF Benioff first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

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.

When you think of a classic game, what comes to mind? Maybe its a first person shooting duel or a versus game, or maybe its something more than that. Maybe it’s a game that has become iconic in more ways than one. If that’s the case, there may be a solid chance that what got you into gaming was an adventure game along the lines of Tomb Raider.

Whether you played it as a kid when it first came out on a console or saw the blockbuster movies before you played it on a PC, the Tomb Raider universe and all the characters that inhabit it are unique and stand the test of time while being known the world over.

We had three different game bundles, all under 25.00, and added a 50.00 bundle that included some awesome GameChanger swag. All of the limited edition bundles were made available on Tiltify. The bundles were composed of steam key game codes that were emailed directly to the donor and included Legacy of Kain games, Pandemonium, Project Snowblind, and Tomb Raider games.

We also hosted a giveaway to give a little GameChanger Charity heave-ho to the overall effort. The giveaway helped to spread the word for us, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix and helped in gaining new followers for all three entities along with ultimately setting more eyes on the campaign.

To say the least, the response from around the world was warm and heartfelt. Below are a couple kind notes from people who purchased the bundles –

“Greetings from Romania!
I am a huge fan of video games and those in need sometimes make my heart melt, i can`t afford to donate much more than than this amount but i am sure that together we can put a smile on their faces, every cent making a difference in their lives !” 

“I already have half of these games but giving to this charity is worth it! :)”

“This is an awesome charity and who knows when I’ll actually get around to playing these but I’m currently going to school to become a video game developer and would love to eventually be as good as the people who work at crystal dynamics, and keep up the awesome work you’re doing for this charity!!!”

Our Twitter page saw the effects of 250+ retweets and our reach on Facebook was seen by over 110,000 users! To name a few, online publications such as IGN, Videogamer, and Gamasutra, all helped out in a big way by picking up the press release and sharing the details about the anniversary sale with their base of readers.

When all was said and done, the campaign raised 30,202.00!

We would like thank each and every publication that picked up the press release and every person who donated and supported us in our efforts. It is truly through the kindness of others that we are able to achieve our vision for the children and staff at hospitals nationally and throughout the world.

We’re always gearing up for upcoming efforts to keep up with pushing our mission in the right direction. Stay up to date on all of our efforts, including fun gaming events and great deals on games, by following our Twitter or Facebook page!

The post Gamers Unite for The Crystal Dynamics 25th Anniversary first appeared on GameChanger Charity.