Congratulations Tate, GameChanger Charity looks forward to seeing you continue to shine as a leader in the community!

The post Tate Natland honored with Top Student Leadership Award first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

The Gaming for Good month is upon us! During the month of June, we will be hosting streams, events, activities, and other ways to showcase the good of the gaming community… And everyone is invited to participate! 

Throughout the month, you’ll be able to support and rep GameChanger on multiple different platforms in multiple different ways. This includes our debut of “Why GameChanger?” This is a new program that everyone is able to contribute to and participate in, even if you can’t donate directly to the cause. We’ll also be hosting MineChanger, a Minecraft event in collaboration with 1N Productions and 52 Minecraft content creators, including many familiar faces! You also won’t want to miss out on supporting GameChanger by watching some content creators who will be streaming to support the cause throughout the month. This is all taking place in the first half of the Gaming for Good month! We’re going to keep the rest of the activities a surprise, but keep your eyes out for some exciting things to come. If you feel you may miss some of the events, but still want to show your support you can always donate HERE: https://tiltify.com/gamechanger! 

Remember the Date

During Gaming for Good, each week will have a different agenda, so we’ve compiled most of them here to help you keep track. Some of these are subject to change and new events may be added/removed, so we highly recommend following us on social media to help stay on top of any events you may be interested in participating in or watching. We hope to see you around! JOIN NOW: discord.gg/gdpHUcDRXM 

June 1-2: Gaming for Good Begins and Discord Debut 

To celebrate the beginning of Gaming for Good month, we’ll be re-launching the GameChanger Discord server. This will be a community of positivity where anyone is welcome! Be sure to join for exclusive giveaways, activities, and more! 

June 3-11: Gaming for Good Streams

We’re excited to have an incredible lineup of content creators joining the GameChanger cause for these next couple of weekends! Be sure to check all of them out and show your support. 

Regedice: June 3 & 10 @ 7pm EST:

Regedice is a League of Legends streamer who has reached the highest rank in the game for four seasons in the game’s history. He is rank 34 on the North American ranked ladder! You won’t want to miss out on one of the greatest Rengar players on Twitch as he takes on solo queue while supporting GameChanger Charity! Be there or be square: https://www.twitch.tv/regedice 

PartySaurusRex: June 3 @ 6pm EST:

PartysaurusRex is an army veteran who is a Twitch Affiliate and streams variety games for his audience, like Fortnite and Rock Band. Yes, you read it right and you don’t want to miss his Rock Band streams, where he truly does put the party in PartySaurusRex. Be sure to show your support and help your favorite streamer party through the night, all in the name of GameChanger. It’s time to rock: https://www.twitch.tv/PartysaurusRex123 

FlameyHeart: June 8 @ 8pm EST:

Flamey is a very active member of the Minecraft community and has always been a big supporter of GameChanger. Remember the CaptainSparklez birthday fundraiser? She helped put that together! She is a variety streamer who plays Minecraft, Uno, and other entertaining games. Don’t miss out on the chance to support a prominent member of the community: https://www.twitch.tv/flamey 

itsameas: June 4 @ 7am EST:

Meas is a newcomer in the streaming and Minecraft community, but has grown quickly in just two months and has shown lots of enthusiasm for the GameChanger cause. Meas’ stream will go from 9PM to 9AM the next morning – an allnighter, twelve hour stream is something you don’t want to miss: https://www.twitch.tv/itsameas 

June 16 @ 4pm EST: MineChanger

To cap off the first half of Gaming for Good, we’ll be collaborating with 1N Productions on an incredible four hour Minecraft charity event, which will feature 52 of your favorite Minecraft content creators! This event will be streamed live on all of their channels, including CaptainSparklez, Systemzee, VintageBeef, and many other prominent members of the community. You DO NOT want to miss out on this one.

What’s Next?

We still have a few things up our sleeve for the second half of this month. Don’t forget to follow us on socials and subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop. This will be an incredible month that will not only help hospitalized kids, but showcase the positivity and good the gaming community is capable of. Get ready to change the game![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post GameChanger Presents: Gaming for Good Month first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

Did you know that pediatric inpatients often suffer from anxiety, depression, and even PTSD? Studies show that distraction therapy at the bedside, like gaming, helps to not only lower pain scores, but also enables better mental health. This is just one of the reasons why we are teaming up with other nonprofit organizations on May 17 for Imagining Mental Wellness! 

On May 17, we will attempt to raise $20,000 (for a total of $350,000 across all participating nonprofits) to help fund research, provide resources, and raise awareness for critical mental health needs. In our case, we’ll be using the funding to focus our efforts on the betterment of children’s mental health in hospitals. To help support our cause, Capital Group has pledged to match all donations up to $10,000! Thank you to Capital Group for supporting our mission.

We will begin accepting donations on May 16 at 12pm and will accept further donations until May 17 at midnight. CLICK HERE to check out our fundraising page and explore all the ways we’ll be supporting children’s mental health. Make sure to return to this page on during May 16th or 17th to place your donation and pledge your support for critical mental health needs. Place your donation early to take advantage of the matching donation offered by Capital Group!

See you tomorrow, GameChangers!

The post Imagining Mental Wellness: A Giving Day to Invest in Mental Health 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.

Check out the article for more information on the event and our work so far!

The post GameChanger featured in a Twinfinite first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

It’s been said that life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

In the early 2000s, Jim Carol’s plan was to become a global pioneer in streaming video technology for smartphones.

He succeeded. Carol’s company, PacketVideo, was the first to enable delivery of rich multimedia software on mobile phones and it now runs on more than 1 billion cellphones.

This brought him wealth and prestige.

But when his 11-year-old son, Taylor, was diagnosed with a rare type of leukemia in 2006 and forced into hospital isolation, Carol pivoted…..

Please read on here.

The post Nonprofit GameChanger Going All Out to Help Kids with Cancer, Other Serious Illnesses first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

Meet our new General Manager Jessamyn Acebes! As General Manager, Jessamyn oversees our operations and development platform at GameChanger Charity.

We sat down with Jessamyn to discuss her origins in gaming at UCI, her new role as our General Manager, and whats coming up for the future of GameChanger Charity.

Where are you from?

My mom and I immigrated to the states from the Philippines in my younger years. Shortly after  we settled my dad followed, along with my grandmother who currently lives with my mom here.
When I first moved to the US, I lived in the downtown LA area, attended high school in LA and Long Beach, then attended the University of California Irvine for my undergraduate degree.

How did you get involved in the Gaming industry?

My dad was an avid gamer in the early 90s and late 80s. I was influenced by this quite a bit and went on to play classics such as the Diablo and StarCraft franchises. Because of this influence I spent a lot of time in middle school hosting and organizing tournaments for games like Smash Bros Melee, Goldeneye and Super Monkey Ball. During this time I was also very active in the online communities for these games and other titles, and also attended conventions and other local gaming-related events. 

During my undergrad at UCI, I was able to gain a lot of experience because of my heavy involvement in their esports program. I joined right when it launched, and went from being a regular arena staff member to a core program intern. I spearheaded projects like the program’s stream team, the first undergraduate UCI streaming class, Girls in Gaming Camps, the International Collegiate Competition stream for CLOL and more. 

Shortly after graduating, I was hired to build and run the league operations of NASEF, which is a non-profit scholastic esports group created by UCI, the Samueli Foundation and the Orange County Dept of Ed. Most of my operations and management experience comes from this — the program had above 7,000 students involved, with unique gaming and scholastic offerings at no cost to students.

I didn’t think my gaming path could turn into a career, but it sorta worked itself out.

What’s your favorite thing about working for GameChanger Charity (GCC)?  

My favorite thing about working at GameChanger Charity is that we work towards a goal that feels positive and good for all ages. Everyone is aligned about our mission of bringing joy to the isolated and disadvantaged. It also seems like everyone we end up working with also aligns with our goals – It’s a great place to work!

 What does it mean to you to get to support kids during such tough times? 

I’m fortunate to work in a place that champions such a good cause. It’s very important to me since I’ve been in the same situation before, both as an adult and as a child. Being sick and isolated can do a lot of harm to one’s body and mind. I’m thankful that this organization can ease that harm and spread joy, especially during these tough times where isolation is at an all-time high.

 Who has had a positive impact on your career to date?

My colleagues at my previous position at the UCI Esports program have made a huge impact on my career. Without their guidance and support, I would not be where I am today in my professional journey.

What do you want to accomplish for GCC by the end of 2021? Next three years?

Our goal is to have GameChanger Charity up and running in over 250+ children’s hospitals by the end of 2021, helping to improve the daily lives of children facing life-threatening illnesses. I also hope to have GCC be at the top of mind for social impact teams in the streaming and video game space. GCC had lots of great connections in the space before we regrouped during the 2020 pandemic – I hope we can restore those connections and go beyond what we’ve done before and bring joy and relief to kids everywhere.

As for the next three years, I’m still working on that plan, but hopefully GCC will become a staple name in the gaming fundraising community!

Can you describe GameChanger Charity in your own words?

The great thing about GameChanger Charity is that it is one of those rare places where everyone is aligned on the same core mission and values. Everyone has their own personal story and reason for why we dedicate ourselves to our cause. The team is full of passionate people all sharing a similar vision of bringing joy and relief to the children and people we are working with. We are all so excited for everything GameChanger has on the horizons. 

The post Q&A with Jessamyn Acebes, GameChanger General Manager first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

Steve Huffman is the current CEO and one of the co-founders of the social platform Reddit, a platform GameChanger has become very familiar with in our journey. Steve has been involved in a number of game changing projects in his career, and we are so excited to have his professional expertise going forward. His background in the technological world and knowledge have allowed for Reddit to become a modern hub of information and interaction, and his dedication is something that has been extremely evident in our partnership.

The conversations with Steve have been nothing but insightful and beneficial for our dreams at GameChanger, and we are so excited for the innovative changes we’re making from these discussions. In our ongoing discussions and planning, Steve and his team have been only enthusiastic about helping us in our cause, and the support from them has been invaluable for us going forward. Steve and his team have allowed us to dig our roots deeper into the communities we want to reach out to, and going forward we have a lot of opportunity for bringing great things to the GCN Platform. We are so honored to be in partnership with an innovator and a team full of support for the GameChanger cause.

Malik Ducard is the current VP of Content Partnerships at YouTube, overseeing business development efforts for the platform’s Learning, Social Impact, Family, Film & TV partnership areas. Prior to joining YouTube, he served as senior vice president of digital distribution for the Americas at Paramount Pictures and oversaw distribution of content to digital platforms. He works closely with top names in the Youtube industry, and his knowledge of partnership and content facilitation has proven invaluable for us as we continually expand and improve our platform. Our spirited conversations with Malik have been truly eye-opening in what needs to be added to our Game Changer Private Network platform, and we are continually adapting and adding content or creators that we think fit the GameChanger vibe. 

Both of these gamechangers have been in direct involvement with us and our CEO Jim as we continue in our goals of providing joy to as many sick, isolated children as possible. We are so happy to be able to announce two new members to our board that are so passionately involved in innovating our goals of philanthropy and plans for spreading even more joy.

Our board of directors has been tackling the difficult problem of addressing desolate situations in hospitals, as hospital numbers continually grow from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goals going forward are to continually improve our platform and spread Joys in new ways never thought of, and we couldn’t be more confident with the newest additions to the GameChanger Board of Directors.

“How do we make life better for sick children and caregivers during this pandemic? I was honored to spend last Friday brainstorming with Reddit Founder & CEO Steve Huffman, and Malik Ducard, Head of Social Impact/VP of Content Partnerships at YouTube. Mailk agreed to join Steve and other tech icons as the newest member of the GameChanger board of directors, truly a coalition of high-tech superheroes. Together we can and will make a difference.” – Jim, CEO and Founder of GameChanger

The post GameChanger Charity Welcomes Steve Huffman and Malik Ducard to Board of Directors first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

The OCBJ nominates candidates for the Innovator of the Year award based on their work, goals, and missions. The GameChanger model and plan we have going forward (and the hard work we have done in the past) has allowed us to get to this position, and we are so excited to keep moving forward. The heart of GameChanger’s dream is to bring joy to as many children as possible that may be suffering, so we are honored to have been nominated for an award showcasing our efforts.

The OCBJ Innovator Award has been previously awarded to a lot of other organizations including The University of California, Irvine, St. Joseph’s Hoag Health, Allergan, VIZIO Inc., and many more! More information about the awards, previous winners, and the upcoming awards event can be found on the OCBJ website.

We are so happy to be considered for this award and appreciate the recognition of our hard work and dedication as we continue spreading joy and changing the game for those suffering from illness.

The Innovator of the Year awards will be presented at a luncheon on September 9th in Irvine, California.

The post GameChanger Nominated for Innovator of the Year Award first appeared on GameChanger Charity.

Last month, we partnered with Reddit to share our vision, goals, and aspirations of GameChanger Charity with an AMA featuring our founder and CEO, Jim Carol. In this month’s blog we capture some major highlights from Jim’s AMA (read the whole AMA here) – from our beginnings to our futures:

I’m Jim Carol, founder, and CEO of GameChanger Charity, a non-profit that’s dedicated to improving the lives of isolated, hospitalized kids through the use of technology and games. I founded GameChanger in 2007 when my son Taylor was going through a 5-year battle with leukemia. Taylor and I saw the need to help families struggling to pay their bills gain access to safe, Ad free premium content,  games, and educational tools. That is what motivated us to created GameChanger – to help democratize access. We’ve donated more than $26 million in support and technology to families and hospitals and now are partnering with some of the biggest companies and influencers in gaming and tech.

Q: Steve Huffman: “As you look back on the past 15 years, what are you most proud of? And 15 years from now, when you are looking back, what do you hope to see?”

A: We started this foundation 14 years ago while my sons, Taylor and Brandon, were both sick.  It was a really dark, scary couple of years as both boys stood a genuine chance of not surviving.  I am most proud of 3 things.

1)  My wife and the women I witnessed as caregivers.  My wife was a hospice nurse when we met in our early 20’s. When our boys were sick, Cynthia’s strength and stamina were amazing. Living in the hospital and visiting over 250 hospitals worldwide, I can share that a large percentage of the child life staff, nurses, and primary caregivers are women and Moms.  Dads are great too, but I am so proud of witnessing how important, beyond the medicines, the role women play in healing sick children.

2)  I am very proud of gamers and the gaming community. This is where 99% of our support has come from, I saw the power that games play for the hospitalized child, and the power and good of the gaming community.

3) I am very proud that we could turn our pain and suffering into a force for good. I am not sure I would have been able to do this work for 14 years if my sons hadn’t survived, but luckily, they did, and that gives me the inspiration to get up at 5 am every day and do this work.

Looking back in 15 years I will be very proud of how we inspired the biggest gaming firms in the world to pitch into a ‘conspiracy of good,’ a new breed of charity that leverages tech, gaming, and innovation to be part of something bigger than ourselves, that we created a trusted place where gamers and their families can pitch in to impact and help sick, isolated people directly. In 15 years, I see our technology going beyond hospitals so that we help all isolated people have hope, inspiration, and that we’ve created a level playing field for access to tech and gaming.

I will be proud if we have to create a workplace that rewards our employees very well, that we helped make their lives better, and that we created an efficient charity that can pay them better than just enough to get by.

Q:Is GameChanger working on any tools to help hospitalized kids continue not only to be able to play and watch passively, but also create content of their own?

A: Yes absolutely. GameChanger is not only a non-profit, but it is also a tech platform that is cloud-based, ad-free and we give it away for free to hospitals and the sick children they’re caring for. We offer some amazing content on the platform, including some that we know you enjoy yourself! We also have many years of experience, witnessing the desire for teens and young adults to be able to watch and create new content. So while we’ll always be adding new content for kids to play and watch and have fun with, we’ll also be adding more tools that enable them to build their own games and stuff, on the platform, from the hospital.

Q:Hey! Thanks for doing this AMA. What technology have you noticed being the most desired/requested by hospitals?

A: The biggest difference we’ve seen is moving our platform and all the entertainment provided to the cloud so every person in the hospital can access our platform. Over the years we’ve worked with caregivers and found that their biggest struggle is not being skilled in the various kinds of technology available to patients.

We have to provide simple and easy-to-use systems that allow for caregivers to focus on the individual, not the technology itself. Being able to provide these entertainment solutions on the cloud has been the biggest game changer because every person in the hospital can have access to gaming and entertainment.

If you want to, check out some info about our platform:
https://gamechangercharity.org/playwell/

Q: ONLY4DNDANDCIGARS
I would love to build a retropie system or a hacked wii for some kids in the hospital. It’s easy enough to do and transfer my library of like 8k retro games. How do i do it?

A: Your work sounds like it could really help a lot of sick kids! If there’s a hospital nearby, we recommend reaching out directly to see how they accept physical donations. You could also pick your favorite charity and have them facilitate the donation on your behalf. We could help with this as well!

Q:Why do you think technology and gaming is a critical aspect of supporting isolated and hospitalized kids?

A: When my son had cancer and a bone marrow transplant, we lived in the hospital on and off for 3 years. We had a chance to witness how important it was for him to have an outlet, distraction and a community.

After this, the charity was able to visit 250 hospitals around the world and buy the staff lunch. Each hospital passionately shared how much gaming, YouTube and livestreaming meant for the kids, their siblings and their families. It provided a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos and loneliness.

Q FRY_FIERI
Two parts: i can’t imagine running a charity has always been easy, what are some road blocks you’ve faced trying to get this up and running? How is your son now?

A: Running a charity is very hard at times. We were very ambitious as we spent 6 years building the platform we donate to hospitals now. GameChanger is an enterprise-grade platform solution that had many challenges due to the HIPAA, COPPA and the need to protect children. There were days where I felt like giving up over the last 14 years, but something would happen every time that made me realize we needed to keep going. To be candid, it was the love of strangers that helped my son and my family when he was sick and inevitably we would help someone when they were really in trouble and that brought the challenges back into perspective and gave us all the strength to work harder.

Thank you so much for asking. Taylor is cancer-free and thriving. He helps me almost every day with the charity.

Q:Apart from your son’s, do you have any other stories/anecdotes from your experiences running GameChanger that have moved you, and in-turn stayed with you, throughout the years? Thanks for the AMA!

A: It’s our pleasure and honor to do the AMA thank you!

Yes absolutely. There was a boy, Lisandro in NYC, who had gone into hospice which meant he had less than 6 months to live. The hospital called and asked if we could give him an Xbox which we did and they sent a photo back of this beautiful young man with dreadlocks and a gorgeous smile.

The hospice nurse told us all Lisandro wants is a tutor from the NYC public school system to be able to keep teaching him. He was in a shelter with no internet and a large team of people rallied to get him internet, a tutor and virtual reality so he could see snow and Paris which he had never seen before. It was a true testament to the human spirit, and sadly a couple of weeks later Lisandro passed. He is still with us every day reminding us of how we can help people in even the smallest fashion.

Q: AGGRESSIVECOWCUDDLES
Hi Jim, thanks for sharing your story. Glad to hear Taylor is cancer-free! What does a hospital need to do to be able to provide patients with the platform?

A: We have donated the platform to 6 leading pediatric hospitals and the National Institute of Health, Children’s Inn. Today is the first day that we’re really starting to share the status of the GameChanger platform. The hospitals that have this technology held evaluations and testing that took sometimes up to 18 months. Now that this groundwork has been completed and the platform is being used every single day by a couple thousand kids, we plan to donate the platform to 6 more hospitals in 2021. For other interested hospitals, we’ve started a waiting list as it takes time to properly implement and roll out the platform for each hospital or hospital network. We want to thank AWS who has donated cloud services, tablets and engineering support to help us offer GameChanger completely free of charge for the hospitals and the families.

In terms of what a hospital needs to run this system, all they would need is an internet connection. We also have donated tablets and VR rigs for the hospitals to be able to provide a device when a family doesn’t have one.

Q: CAPTAINENERGY
In addition to donating, what is the best way to get involved and help GameChanger charity?

A: We are just beginning to share the story of our GameChanger platform. As the hospitals start sharing their stories of how we’ve changed the game for their kids and families, please follow us and share our good deeds with your friends and community.

We’ve also worked with lots of content creators to put together fundraising streaming and events using Tiltify. You can check out our Tiltify page here: https://tiltify.com/GameChanger

Q: Thanks for the AMA Jim, and love what you’ve done. How do you think Reddit can do more to help more?

A: Reddit is such an important pillar of the online experience and we appreciate all that everyone at Reddit does to support good deeds. Their platform unites so many interesting communities around shared passions and their assistance in helping us grow what I like to call our, ‘Conspiracy of Good,’ is so important.

Later this year we would love to do another AMA and share the results of thousands of children, dozens of hospitals and the data answering the question: “Were we able to help with the psychological and social needs of sick kids?” We believe our platform can help sick kids feel better, need fewer pain meds and experience less isolation. Reddit’s support to help us democratize access to premium content for ALL sick, isolated children regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds has been great and we hope to get to grow the collaboration with the team at Reddit.

Q: LLAMAMEPRONTO
What are the biggest challenges GameChanger is facing as an organization? Cloud storage costs? Breaking through to new care facilities? Any specific areas where you could use help? Thanks for the AMA!

A: It’s our pleasure! GameChanger has created a platform with the help of some of the biggest tech and gaming companies on the planet. In essence, we are running a technology company and need to provide enterprise-grade solutions that thousands of patients now depend on. We have been asked to scale and donate to more hospitals. We face the same challenges of venture-backed tech start ups. We have never been savvy about marketing, PR or self promotion. We are always looking to develop these skills and learn from those who excel at it to be able to share our story and reach more people who want to help the kids.

My background includes being the CEO of a global deep technology, streaming media company. Innovations harnessing existing technology to help the kids is actually very easy for us and in many other instances, this would be the hardest part. We are lucky that we have the support of the tech giants who appreciate how we’re repurposing technology, and many times their technology, to make the world a little better.

Thanks everyone for joining us in today’s AMA! If you want to know more about our charity and the work we do check us out at https://gamechangercharity.org/

We’ve also had the chance to work with Omaze and Rooster Teeth to fundraise for GCC. Donors had a chance to win an awesome experience at Rooster Teeth HQ in Austin, and we are so proud of the support and help from those campaigns.

The post Reddit Q&A with Jim Carol, Founder and CEO of GameChanger first appeared on GameChanger Charity.