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‘Tis the Season of Giving: Help Raise Money for the Children’s Miracle Network

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Long-time readers will likely recognize the adorable child in the photo above as Aven. The same folks may also remember that HLS has a large part in a fundraising campaign, Savin’ Aven, to help Aven and his family, which are family friends of mine, with the costs associated with his Leukemia treatment.

Aven lost that battle. He was just two years old.

For the third consecutive year, I’m honoring the memory of Aven through an effort called Extra Life. All proceeds raised go to the local Children’s Miracle Network entity that cared for him, the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Oklahoma City. In fact, if you are curious where your hard-earned dollar goes in your tax-deductible donation, I have that broken down below:

Click to enlarge

In the past couple of years, I’ve actually had people at CHF of OKC reach out to me and they let me pen a post on why I do this every year. This year, I took on an insane task of not just doing the traditional 25-hour marathon (which starts tonight at 7pm CT, by the way), but doing multiple charity streams through this fall.

Thus far, the results have been worth it. I set a lofty goal of $4,000 and, as of this writing, I’m just under $700 of that goal. I know we are going to hit that mark, but I want to crush it. To do that, I need your help.

Of course, there are donation incentives. I will have a donor raffle to give away some custom art work and gift certificates, but you can also make some terrible things happen to me. Every $500, I drink a terrible alcoholic concoction. Yes, thus far I’ve consumed six drinks that I never want to consume again. Plus, if we hit the $4,000 goal, at the end of my marathon I will either shave my beard into a pornstache or dye my hair like Guy Fieri.

The choice is up to you. Even amount donations goes to Team Pornstache (who has a near $800 lead as of this writing) and odd amount donations go to Team Flavor Town.

Here’s how you can help:

  • Make your tax deductible donation here
    • No donation is “too small”. $1 can give a baby premie diapers for a day.
  • Spread the word: extralife.ndtex.com will redirect to my donation page for easier word-of-mouth sharing
    • I can’t stress this part enough. Even if you can’t donate, sharing is huge.
  • Hang around, watch, and chat with me. The fun kicks off at 7pm CT tonight!
    • This is also huge. 25-hours is a long time, even with breaks. The company is needed, makes the stream more fun. I have some bits planned that should make things entertaining throughout the effort.

I want to thank everyone that has already donated and spread the word already. Both the hospital and the Extra Life team that I’m a part of has been absolutely floored that I’ve been so successful in this effort in a “non-gaming” community. I’m not surprised in the least. The Notre Dame family always answers the call when people are in need.

For the Kids! For Aven!

Ryan Ritter
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About Ryan Ritter

Editor-in-Chief
Texan by birth, Irish by choice.

First-generation Domer and a former student manager, HLS podcast host, HLS Sim creator, Extra Life streamer, and technical problem haver. You can find more non-Notre Dame related writing on his Patreon.