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[B]Connect with us:[/B]

[B]Facebook:[/B] facebook.com/gamersoutreach
[B]Twitter:[/B] twitter.com/gamersoutreach
[B]Website:[/B] [url]www.GamersOutreach.org[/url] (under construction)

Hey all! My name is Zach Wigal, and I serve as the executive director of Gamers Outreach Foundation. For those who haven't heard of us, we're simply one of the video game industry charity organizations that's working to use video games to help people out!

Some of you may already be familiar with a couple of our programs. We recently merged with Fun For Our Troops and Gaming4Others - two other game industry charity organizations. We now all work under the Gamers Outreach banner - and we've got a new website coming out (in the next few weeks) to better reflect our efforts!

Our organization's resources are focused on the following three initiatives...

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Gamers Outreach funds the construction of portable gaming kiosks we like to call GO Karts (Gamers Outreach Karts). GO Karts are used to provide entertainment to patients in hospitals who have a limited amount of access to activities outside of their rooms. Thanks to GO Karts, hospital staff members are able to easily transport video games and other sources of entertainment to patients who are stuck in bed or immobile for long periods of time.

Long-term hospitalization can often times be a lonely stressful, and frightening experience. GO Karts help to ease the burdens associated with hospital stays by providing sources of relief and entertainment to patients.

We actually just delivered our first GO-Kart to a hospital called Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here are a few photos from the donation ceremony...

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The Fun For Our Troops initiative supplies video game care-packages to U.S. soldiers serving overseas. Never far from our hearts and minds, many of our service men and women are gamers, and they rely on game play as a way to decompress and lift their spirits. Fun For Our Troops was founded with the mission of aiding in stress relief and relaxation by providing high tech and interactive games to deployed troops.

Here are a few photos we've received from soldiers who've benefited from the Fun For Our Troops project -

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Gaming4Others coordinates online video game tournaments and community game nights to help raise funds for others in need. Through Gaming4Others, Gamers Outreach hosts online tournaments and community game nights for a variety of causes and charity organizations. Gamers from across the country donate funds to participate in online tournaments. Proceeds from the tournaments are then donated to pre-designated causes or organizations. Gaming4Others combines passion for gaming with charitable action; an ideal way for gamers to positively impact problems existing in local communities.

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Each year our organization hosts an annual fundraising event we call "Gamers for Giving." The event itself is a non-profit competitive gaming event which features video game tournaments, special industry guests, and a variety of gaming activities and contests for participants. Profits from the event are used to support our organization's initiatives. Last year's event saw over 1,000 participants / spectators!

This year's event will be taking place in the center court of a shopping center called Briarwood Mall, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Additional information and registration will be up on our website upon its launch. In the meantime, you can check out the event’s facebook event page [URL=http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=483316505310]here.[/URL]

If you'd like to learn more or support our efforts by making a donation, (we're a recognized 501c3) you can do so by visiting our website at [url]www.GamersOutreach.org[/url]. Right now there's a temporary splash page up, but in the bottom right corner is a link which will connect you to our PayPal.

Finally – major props to The ECA for dedicating a specific section of their forum to gaming charities. Totally awesome!