by Brandon Malave, staff reporter
Awesome Games Done Quick will be returning next year to raise money for charities. Games Done Quick is a speedrunning charity marathon that takes place twice a year and raises money for Doctors Without Borders and The Prevent Cancer Foundation.
The last charity event they held, Summer Games Done Quick took place July 26th-August 2nd and raised $1,215,748.39 for Doctors Without Borders. They have raised money for Doctors Without Borders and the Prevent Cancer Foundation ever since starting Games Done Quick. From 2011-2015, the donation drive has raised $5,562,626.77 for Doctors Without Borders and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
The Prevent Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit organization which tries to save lives through cancer prevention and early detection across all populations.
“Since 1985, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, has invested $138 million in support of cancer prevention research, education, advocacy and outreach programs nationwide and have played a pivotal role in developing a body of knowledge that is the basis for important prevention and early detection strategies,,” according to the prevent cancer foundation website.
Doctors Without Borders is another non profit organization which puts its money towards providing medical support in many different countries that need them.
“Summer Games Done Quick once again teams up with you and viewers all over the world to support our work providing emergency medical aid in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe,,” according to the Doctors Without Borders website.
Speedrunners complete any game as fast as possible abusing glitches and exploiting the game’s mechanics. Over the span of a week, the marathon streams these games 24/7 on twitch.tv/gamesdonequick. Each game during the marathon has a donation goal that can be met, and once met the speedrunner will show off something special from the game.
“Watching speedruns of games from my childhood is really cool, and it’s even better that the money raised is going towards a great cause” junior Razmik Degoian said.
Andrew Schroeder, or Romscout is the Charity event manager at Twitch and event director for Games Done Quick. Schroeder manages promotion and growth of these charity events as well as scheduling and organizing the actual events. He even created the Games Done Quick website. Tune in to Awesome Games Done Quick on January 2016 to find out if Schroeder can continue to be successful in raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders.
