Local game developer brings extra life to the IWK

In the world of video games, an extra life comes in all shapes and sizes, be it a green mushroom, a fairy in a bottle, or even an icon of your character’s face floating in the air. But when it comes to sick and injured children in the real world, an extra shot at life isn’t so simple, and might cost a pretty penny for hospitals to provide.

Luckily, gamers in the Maritimes are willing to put their video gaming skills to work to help raise funds for the IWK, to help give those kids a 1Up.

Since 2008, video gamers across North America have participated in a charity called Extra Life, in which thousands of players worldwide take part in gaming marathons, and collect pledges from well-wishers toward the children’s hospital of their choice.

“It’s a 24-hour gaming marathon that supports Children’s Miracle Network hospitals,” says Penny Sears, the communications strategist for the IWK Foundation, the fundraising arm of the IWK Health Centre. “In the region, of course, most Extra Life players are playing in support of the IWK Foundation.”

Sears says that every cent raised for the IWK through the Extra Life fundraiser is put aside to help the hospital pay for its most urgent priority needs throughout the year.

“It can help support anything, like advanced technology, research, improved facilities, and up-to-date equipment,” says Sears. “Every year, what the need is changes.”

Greg Sewart is the director of Game Production at Redspace in Bedford, and has been working in the gaming community since the early 2000s. He’s also been one of the IWK’s biggest supporters through Extra Life for the past five years.

Extra Life is a year-long fundraiser, but it has one big day each year when most players will be hosting their 24-hour gaming marathons, broadcasting online through a partnership with Twitch.tv. Sewart is one of those gamers, broadcasting his gameplay across the globe.

“It’s like a marathon, but rather than getting up and having to walk or run or anything like that, you get to sit on your butt and play video games all day,” says Sewart. “That’s one of the things I really like about this, is that there’s the door-to-door aspect of it locally, but it also brings a lot of money in from all over the world for a local hospital, which is amazing.”

Sewart played a ton of retro games on his stream — Super Mario 3, Turtles in Time, and Zelda II, to name a few — and even gave away donated prizes on his stream, from apparel to video game consoles. All told, he raised more than $5,100 in a single day, which was $1,500 higher than his original goal.

Sewart’s also been hard at work throughout the year to make more and more Maritimers aware of Extra Life, and to get as many as he could to host their own fundraising marathons.

“There’s a much bigger local presence now, because of something that Extra Life is doing,” says Sewart, who heads the Halifax chapter of the Extra Life Guild. “Our job is to give the charity a greater local presence, and also go to different events and try to recruit people to join up.”

“Our guild has been pretty phenomenal this year,” says Sears, who noted that recruitment drives at the Scotiabank Theatre in Bayer’s Lake and Hal-Con were among the most successful. “We hope to expand the guild program into more regions in the Maritimes.”

For gamers like Sewart, getting involved with Extra Life isn’t just an excuse to play video games all day (although that is an admitted perk). Maritime gamers do it because they know how blessed we are to have a facility like the IWK so close to home, and that it’s something worth gaming for.

“If you know anyone who has children, or grew up here, the IWK was part of your life at some point,” says Sewart, who played in memory of his brother Brad, who spent a lot of time at the IWK before he passed away at the age of three. “We’re super lucky to have a world-class children’s hospital in our region, and we should do anything we can to make sure that they have the best equipment they can.”

“They’re so passionate about not only gaming, but about giving back,” says Sears, who says 355 players across the Maritimes participated in Extra Life on behalf of the IWK this year. “It’s really inspiring to see the gaming community come together to do something really special and amazing for Maritime children and youth.”

It’s not too late for you to grab your controller and join in. You can still donate to Sewart’s fundraiser by visiting www.extra-life.org and searching under his name. To start looking into getting a marathon of your own underway, sign up online through Extra Life, or contact Sears directly at [email protected]. Sewart definitely thinks you should.

“How hard is this, right? I’m hooked up to a Super Nintendo controller and a headset, and people are donating,” says Sewart. “It’s fantastic.”