Children’s Miracle Network Debuts “Extra Life”

Gamers looking to make a direct impact in their hometown have a can’t-miss opportunity this month with Extra Life, a gamer-centric fundraising phenomenon helping Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across North America.

The Extra Life marathon encourages game enthusiasts to sign up for free at Extra Life select the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital they support, and seek online donations to help the sick and injured kids treated at Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. By doing so, participants will work toward their intended donation goal leading up to game day on Saturday, Oct. 20.

Now in its fifth year, this "grassroots gaming" program has seen staggering year-over-year growth, with more than $1.2 million raised in 2011 and 10,000-plus participants signed on this year. Video games, board and card games, and role-playing and outdoor games are all welcomed Extra Life activities.

Along with word-of-mouth recruitment, Extra Life has also received endorsements and sponsor support from top gaming authorities and companies including the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), E3, Reddit, G4TV, Microsoft/Xbox, Sony, Ubisoft and gaming personalities Robert Bowling, Rick Malambri and The Frag Dolls.

“The Extra Life movement has experienced extraordinary growth over the past four years because it gives gamers an easy way to help Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals while celebrating the fun of gaming,” said Jeromy ‘Doc’ Adams, founder of Extra Life and the program’s director at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. "Extra Life is readily embraced because it allows gamers from all walks to shine as heroes for sick and injured kids in their community while gaming wherever, however and with whomever they choose. And it’s an awesome reason to game all day!”

In addition to a streamlined registration process, Adams also noted www.extra-life.org provides helpful links, blog posts and media resources for promoting and encouraging donations. To get started on their fundraising quest, each Extra Life participant is asked to raise money by recruiting at least four sponsors to give a minimum of $1 for each hour of the event, equating to just $24 per sponsor.

To learn more about this year’s Extra Life game-a-thon and to sign up, head over to www.extra-life.org, Like on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sgextralife or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/extralife4kids.