ModSquad’s Extra Life Marathon Puts the Fun in Fundraising

Where else but at a ModSquad Extra Life marathon can you stay up all night playing video games, eating hot wings and jelly beans, singing karaoke, and raising tens of thousands of dollars for sick and injured kids?

Last weekend, for the sixth year in a row, ModSquad came together in support of a noble cause that resonates with us in a big way. Extra Life is a 24-hour gaming event where participants raise money in support of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and our local UC Davis Children’s Hospital. But we took it even further, launching our efforts with a kickoff party in Second Life. That festive gathering preceded a week of live streaming from some big-hearted gamers here at ModSquad. They played day and night, chatting with viewers while engaged in their favorite games, and raised thousands of dollars for Extra Life before the big weekend.

With Daylight Savings Time ending in the U.S. during the marathon, we had an extra hour to enjoy ourselves and pull in donations. And boy, did we do both! The group raised more than $24,300 as of this writing, which blew past last year’s total by nearly 50% (despite unfortunate issues with the Extra Life donation site). That placed ModSquad in the top 30 fundraisers for this year’s marathon (out of nearly 5,000 teams). And every cent of those funds goes directly to helping children in need.

As for the fun? We hope you were able to tune into the proceedings as broadcast on Mixer, a ModSquad partner and client. Here are some of the highlights.

In Austin, brave souls like Mike K. (below right) tested their limits with the Hot Sauce donation challenge.

ModSquad’s live stream appears on the home page of our client and partner Mixer (below left) and on the Xbox (below right).

Across the country, friends gather to play games and enjoy one another’s company.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, participants face the Chubby Bunny marshmallow mouth-stuffing challenge and spin the wheel to determine the filling in their pies. (Yum? Or yuk?)

Sometimes a day at the office is all fun and games!

Dawn breaks over Austin, signaling the final hours of Extra Life 2019.

And that’s a wrap for 2019. Give us a few hours to catch up on our sleep, and then we’ll start planning for 2020!