As soon as the severity of the socio-economic effects of the coronavirus became evident, the Gaud-Hammer Gaming Group, in partnership with Ultimate Gaming Championship (UGC) and Beasley Esports, teamed up to make an impact.
Together they implemented the Shutdown Showdown, an initiative to provide support for the No Kid Hungry organization, a charity working to ensure that millions of American kids will get the meals they need during the sudden nationwide school closures.
Shutdown Showdown kicked off on March 31st with a five-week Apex Legends tournament. Competitors battled weekly for prizes donated by our generous sponsors. JNoBeams was declared champion.
The initiative then shifted to its second phase, when over two dozen streamers and influencers came together to host the Shutdown Showdown 24-hour Stream-a-thon. Their ask to the audience was simple, “Just give $1.”
In 24 hours, across YouTube, Mixer, Facebook, and Twitch, the power and the generosity of gamers were fully displayed. The results were phenomenal-- with over 15,000 views and 1.3M impressions on social media posts, the charity raised just under $10,000.
The gaming community answered the call, leveraging its passion and commitment to lift the campaign to meet its goals. Highlights of the stream-a-thon included:
• Loveabilities’ community took the challenge head-on, raising over $2,000 in only 20 minutes, generating over $3,500 during the run of her stream.
• ClutchJoyner took the time to game with and against fans who were thrilled to be featured on-stream. • Jahronmon and RealGameMedia harnessed the worldwide compassion of their audiences bringing in donations from the Philippines, Australia, Britain, and Canada to support America’s most vulnerable kids.
• Sickdegenerate embraced unexpected chaos, navigating game server shutdowns, unplanned game updates, and a few highly entertaining dance breaks on the way to crushing his goal. He topped it off by literally shaving his top!
• TheGameGuru continued the head-shaving trend, inspiring his community to shave *their* heads when he hit his goals . . . and promising to shave his legs on an upcoming stream. We’re looking forward to it, Guru!
• LenaAxios showered her followers with shells and shared personal stories of how important those school meals are to so many kids.
“Shutdown Showdown was powerful and personal for us. Gamers protected gamers. In a time of great need in America, supporting No Kid Hungry’s mission is something we are deeply proud to have been a part of,” stated Gaud-Hammer Gaming Groups, CEO, Anthony Gaud.
