In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years (OR aren’t really a gamer), let me tell you about one of the greatest charities around. Let me tell you about Extra Life.

Starting way back in 2008, The Sarcastic Gamer and its fans wanted to raise money for a local children’s hospital that a young girl named Victoria Enmon had been visiting for treatment of her acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The fans wanted to raise money in her memory and try to help out other ill children, so they came up with the idea of doing what gamers do best. Play games! So they all banded together, and had a 24-Hour gaming marathon. That year they raised $302,000 all of which went to the local hospital. The following year, participants in the first event wanted to find out a way that they could donate to their own local children’s hospitals so the Extra Life organization joined forces with The Childrens Miracle Network and the national Extra Life event was born!

Fast forward to 2014 and the 907Gamers, which was at the time a Facebook group with about 3,500 members. We joined in on the charity and started what would become our first gaming marathon. The first year, we set what was thought to be a lofty goal of $2,000. About 85 gamers all crammed into a warehouse and played games for a solid 24 hours. When things were all said and done, 907Gamers raised an amazing $11,518! All proceeds benefited the Providence Children’s Hospital in Anchorage.

This year they wanted to make the same goal, so they set it for $12,000. As of the writing of this article, they’ve already raised a staggering $39,754!

Now the national Extra Life event is Saturday, November 7th, beginning at 8 a.m. but due to scheduling, the 907Gamers are having theirs tomorrow! That’s right, Friday October 16th starting at 8 p.m.!

How you can get involved.

If you want to help out the 907Gamers you can donate to them directly HERE.

If you want to donate on my behalf, you can check out my Extra Life profile HERE. Now I won’t be gaming for the entire 24 hours, but if you catch our live stream you might see me up on the stage DJing!

Don’t want to help out the Alaskan Children? Want your donations to go more locally? Check out the official Extra Life page and find a local event or team in your area!

This is an amazing cause, and it’s stunning how generous how gamers can be. If you can’t donate, join a team and ask your friends and family to donate on your behalf!