Back in September, Kim chose the amazing SpecialEffect as her Best of Eurogamer pick. In her article she mentioned that the 1001-Up.com team would like to get further involved with the charity and we’re now ready to announce our contribution to the cause: Gamely Giving.
If you haven’t yet heard of SpecialEffect, they’re a charity dedicated to using technology to enhance the quality of life of people with all kinds of needs, including stroke and road traffic accident patients, individuals with life-limiting conditions and injured soldiers returning from overseas. They are the only UK organisation devoted to helping everyone, whatever their disability, enjoy video games and leisure technology, kickstarting their rehabilitation, self-esteem and inclusion.
We had the pleasure of meeting Gavin Tan (Project Customer Care Coordinator) and Hannah Whittaker (Events Coordinator) from the charity at this year’s Eurogamer Expo and it was lovely to see how enthusiastic they were. After being so impressed by their passion and dedication we set up a monthly donation in order to do our bit, but we knew we wanted to do more to help. Just take a look at the video below to see some of the great work that SpecialEffect does – we just had to get involved.
When the charity recently announced their Gameblast event, a twenty-four-hour gaming marathon we jumped at the chance to be a part of it. And after roping in our good friend The Dad, Gentleman Geek too, team Gamely Giving was born! Our aim is to game through the day and night on 22 February 2014 whilst raising as much money for SpecialEffect as possible – and hopefully we’ll be able to give you guys a few laughs along the way too.
So how are we planning to encourage donations? We consider ourselves a game bunch (no pun intended) so, not only will you be able to watch our Twitch channel on the date, but each time we hit a fundraising milestone we’ll have a little surprise for you. Imagine a video of Craig and Phil overcoming their crab and squid phobias, seeing The Dad in his Batman pyjamas or watching Kim be challenged to something dastardly (by Kevin from The Mental Attic no doubt); we’re still working on the exact plan and will reveal more soon, but if you have any suggestions of your own please do let us know in the comments below!
How can you help? Well, the obvious answer is to donate through our Just Giving page. Every donation regardless of its size really does make a difference to the charity. Take a look at some of the people they’ve helped already, including four-year-old Charlotte who lost her limbs after contracting meningitis and injured serviceman Lloyd who was unable to use a controller after serving in Afghanistan. If you’re interested in learning more, you can find videos showcasing SpecialEffect’s work on their YouTube channel.
And what do you get for donating? Not only that warm, fuzzy feeling inside knowing you’ve helped the charity to continue their amazing work, but there’s also the possibility of choosing the games and our players for the event. Along with our first sponsor, everyone who makes a donation of £20 or over to Gamely Giving will be shown our libraries, and given the opportunity to pick a title and the team member they wish play for an hour… so yes, that means you can make Kim sit through as many horror games as you want (take a look here if you want to see a previous performance).
And what if you’re unable to donate right now but still want to get involved? There’s still plenty you can do to help and any kind of promotion – blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates, anything at all – to get our message out there would be extremely appreciated! And if you’re up for joining team Gamely Giving yourself, absolutely everyone is welcome to do so. We’d love to have you along for the ride so simply drop us an email and we can get the ball rolling!
We all know how much we enjoy playing video games, so what better than to support a charity that wants to help see everyone be a part of that fun? We’ll have more articles over the next couple of months on the milestones mentioned above along with our progress. In the meantime, head over to the SpecialEffect website to find out about their fantastic work and spread the word about Gamely Giving. Thank you!
Date: Saturday, 22 February 2014
Just Giving: Gamely Giving
Twitch: GamelyGiving
Hashtag: #GamelyGiving
Email: go1001-up@live.co.uk or tdggblog@gmail.com
1001-Up.com 
That is very cool, indeed 😉
Well, if you’d like to join us… 😉
Yes, that sounds like a great idea! Let’s discuss this further 😉
Fabulous! Drop us an email at the addresses above whenever you’re ready!
Very heart-warming!
Exactly, we knew we wanted to get involved with the charity as soon as we met them at the Eurogamer Expo. 🙂
Aww, you can’t put poor Kim through that again! Can I donate and vote for anything BUT that?
Just think of it as contributing to her therapy which will make her desensitised to the horror of Slender!
Sold.