[11.09.15] ‘Extra Life 2015’ continues to shatter records

Extra Life

By the end of the Extra Life 2015 official stream at 8:00 AM on Nov 8, 2015, a few more records had been destroyed. While 48,000 Extra Lifers were busy gaming and streaming away, milestone after milestone was hit and history was made. 54 Extra Life Guilds and a tiny team at headquarters worked together to benefit over 170 Children’s Miracle Network hospitals and more than 10 million grateful kids. When it was all said and done, Extra Life 2015 continued its trend of outpacing itself for yet another year.

Saturday, Nov 7, 2015, was the biggest day in the history of the Extra Life program. Not only that, but it pushed total funds raised past the staggering $20 million mark since 2008. With another two months still to go, Extra Life 2015 eclipsed the previous year's final contributions and reached an initial Game Day total of $6,360,566 by the end of the stream. The fundraising does not end until December 31st at midnight, so expect that total to keep rising.

There were also some special congratulations to hand out after Game Day. Participants from Austin, TX who were playing to benefit the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas won the ESA Foundation Challenge by raising the most money overall for an individual hospital. For doing so, they earned a bonus $30,000 to benefit their local kids.

Not to be outpaced, the 907 area code in Alaska also earned an additional $30,000 for the Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage, AK for having the highest funds raised per capita. The ESA Foundation also granted this bonus.

Of course, things could change over the next two months, but there are currently some impressive role models sitting atop the Extra Life Leaderboard this year. Jack Patillo of Rooster Teeth is the overall leader with an impressive $205,560. Following behind him is Mindcrack Network, Geek & Sundry, and Giant Bomb. Rounding out the top five is Noah Cohen, an 8-year-old from Vermont and former CMN Hospital patient who managed to hit some incredible numbers while campaigning in his 2nd Extra Life.

If you would still like to donate and help me in my personal efforts to raise $1,000 for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, you can do so here!

For a final update at the end of the year, Subscribe, check out http://www.extra-life.org, or their official Facebook page.

[10.13.15] Extra Life 2015 raises $2 million in record time

Extra Life

In a blog post from Oct 13, 2015, current Managing Director Jeromy Adams, known simply as “Doc” on the website, proudly announced that this year’s efforts are trending at a record-setting pace. Over the holiday weekend, Extra Life 2015 managed to break $2 million in donations received without batting an eye. Around this same time last year, the total funds raised had just breached $1 million. Last year’s contributions ended just past $6 million raised For The Kids, which makes 2015 look even more promising.

As with previous years, many celebrities and internet personalities are participating. This includes the likes of Rooster Teeth, Geek & Sundry, and Noah Cohen – an 8-year-old 2-time Extra Lifer and former Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s patient who is currently dominating in his efforts to raise money for this year. As of writing, Noah is sitting in 3rd place for total donations received. Since 2010, Extra Life has managed to raise a staggering $14 million to support CMN Hospitals all around the U.S. Every dollar donated goes directly the hospital to which it is pledged and donations are tax deductible.

This year’s celebration will take place on Saturday, November 7, beginning at 8 am CST. During this time, thousands of participants will live-stream a 24-hour gaming marathon on Twitch, a long-standing partner. The gaming marathon will include all types of games, ranging from video games and card games to board games and tabletop RPGs. The fundraising efforts continue throughout the marathon and culminate on the final day of the year.

If you would like to make a donation to Extra Life 2015, you can do so here.

If you’re interested in participating in Extra Life 2015, there is still plenty of time! You can sign up here.

Then be sure to tune into Twitch on November 7 and watch your participant play!