Extra Life: Playing Video Games for a Cause

You know about running and cycling marathons raising money for charity, but have you heard of a 25-hour gaming marathon? That’s right! A charity gaming marathon that lasts 25 hours. Liquid Web will be hosting an Extra Life Charity event on November 20th to raise money for local children’s hospitals.

Extra Life is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals fundraising program that empowers the gaming community to make a difference in the lives of local kids.”

All donations go to the Children’s Miracle Network and stay local to fund critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment, and charitable care.

As Liquid Web is a member of the tech industry and employs many tech-savvy individuals, we have a large group of employees who are PC, console, board, and tabletop gamers.

Extra Life is an excellent way to get the entire group together to socialize, have fun playing games, and raise money for a great cause. Even though the Helpful Humans of Liquid Web cannot be in the office together this year, they will still have fun remotely! 

This year will be their sixth year participating in the Extra Life 25-hour marathon. The event is held annually on the Saturday before Daylight Savings Time ends to get in that extra hour of game time, but teams can raise money for their chosen children’s hospital all year long. 

The Liquid Web event will take place on November 20th, 2021. Last year, they raised just shy of $3,000 between the teams, so they hope to raise $5,000 this year. They will have teams participating from the United States in Michigan, Texas, Arizona, and New York.

Joseph Hayhoe, Russell Kranz, Jackie Cowan, Ethan Reynolds, Noti Peppas, and Michelle Frechette are helping to plan the 2021 event.

Joseph Hayhoe is the Office IT Manager and has helped coordinate six Extra Life events at Liquid Web, specifically the PC and Console game facets in years past when everyone could meet up. He has a passion for collecting and playing video games and has attended several PC gaming events over the past 20 years, both in Michigan and as far away as Texas. Joseph has been with Liquid Web for 11 years and in his current role for six years.

Russell Kranz is the Maintenance Supervisor and has assisted in organizing six Extra Life events. He has been part of the Liquid Web team for 13 years. An avid gamer, Russell enjoyed last year’s game schedule that included board games, video games, PC games, and a scavenger hunt! 

Jackie Cowan is the Content Marketing Manager and has been with Liquid Web for 10 years. She has helped coordinate three Extra Life events so far and enjoys the social aspect of the events, whether in-person or remote. Even though she got back into gaming just in the last few years, she enjoys playing Among Us, Tricky Towers, and Tetris99 (amongst other games) on her Nintendo Switch and PC.

Ethan Reynolds is the Custodial Supervisor and has been with Liquid Web for six years. He has participated with Extra Life for five years and is proud to have raised enough donations to score two fundraising medals! An avid board gamer, Ethan has helped organize company board game nights both in-person and virtual. Currently, he enjoys his Kickstarter addiction to help fill his house with cardboard and plastic pieces.

Noti Peppas is the Global Data Center Operations Manager and has been with the company for 11 years. His earliest memories of gaming include playing on the venerable NES. He has enjoyed watching how video games and the gaming community has evolved year after year. In his fourth year participating in the Liquid Web Extra Life event, Noti is inspired by gamers across the globe putting in their time and energy to grow this charity event for the Children’s Network Hospitals.

Michelle Frechette is the Director of Community Engagement at StellarWP and has been with the company for three years. She is the Podcast Barista at WPCoffeeTalk and Board President at Big Orange Heart. Michelle prefers puzzle-based games like sudoku and word searches and is excited to participate in this year’s event.

Employees from the Liquid Web Family of Brands can join one of the Extra Life teams and then share their team’s donation page on social media to help raise awareness and collect donations.

Those unrelated to the Liquid Web Family of Brands can also participate by signing up at Extra Life to collect donations for a preferred local children’s hospital. Extra Life provides a handy Media Toolkit to help enhance your streaming and social outreach.

Liquid Web has several teams this year. All donations are greatly appreciated! Feel free to share one or all of the team donation pages on your own social media to help raise funds for any of the local Children’s Hospitals.

Sparrow Children’s Center

Beaumont Children’s Hospital

Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Golisano Children’s Hospital

Catch the Liquid Web multi-team Twitch stream with donation totals for a full day of gaming on November 20th, 2021!