Sep 29, 2014 By Jeremy Farbman 3 min read

On Oct. 25, a group of current and former members of the acclaimed Mt. Lebanon Percussion program will attempt to raise large amounts of money for children’s hospitals by playing video games. They will put video of themselves playing video games live on the Internet for people to watch and donate to the cause. They will be joining hundreds of other teams who will be doing the same thing at the same time without having to leave their homes, thanks to Extra Life, an organization and event that allows fans of video games to help kids by playing – basically, any game enthusiast’s dream. All donations go to Children’s Miracle Network hospitals; in this case, the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

For anyone not familiar with livestreaming, in this case, the concept is a person playing video games live in front of an audience over the Internet. Viewers can type messages to the host of the stream, letting the other viewers give advice and ask them questions. In this way, it is almost like the viewers are in the same room as the streamer, only the two parties might be an ocean apart.

The forerunner of livestreaming has been twitch.tv, a website that has become extremely popular with gamers in the last few years.

The numerous teams that have been formed at the Extra Life website will aim to stream video games for 24 hours straight, and the object is to get as many donations as possible in this window of time.

Donations are extremely easy to make: simply go to the Extra Life website at any time and click the donate button. You’ll need to type in the name of a team in order to donate – to help me and the rest of the percussionists, type “Team MTL” into the box.

It doesn’t matter who you give the donation to or how much you donate – all donations go to the same cause, and the phrase “every bit helps” definitely applies here. Even if you only have a few dollars to spare, it will still help out kids who are stuck in the hospital.

Extra Life takes pride in the fact that the event is malleable to the schedule of the streamer. Yes, every team gets in 24 hours, but not every team necessarily completes the marathon on the same day.

While Oct. 25 is the most popular day to participate in the marathon, some teams have already put in their 24 hours. You can expect to see streams before and after they are technically “supposed” to happen, so even if you are busy that day, you still have an opportunity to watch and donate.

Even as early as weeks before the event, teams have so far raised a collective total of more than $800,000. That number alone shows how dedicated gamers can be when it comes to using their skills to help people in need. If you have the time and money to spare, watch a stream and contribute to this unique way of raising money.

To sign up or donate to Extra Life, visit www.extra-life.org.

Jeremy Farbman is a sophomore at Mt. Lebanon High School.