MDCD is sponsoring the construction and placement of 17 GO Karts -- one for every Metro Detroit children's hospital in need. GO Karts are designed for the hospital environment to provide pediatric patients with recreation.
In 2017, after hearing about the wonderful work of Gamers Outreach, your Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers sponsored that year’s Gamers for Giving fundraising event. That year, the annual event raised $315,069.00, all thanks to support from gamers around the world. As part of that sponsorship, we produced one GO (Gamers Outreach) Kart and placed it in Children’s Hospital of Michigan – DMC where it is still helping kids cope with long hospital stays and treatment to this day.
But, we wanted to do more.
“We’re in a meeting and the word came up: ‘How many hospitals are in the Metro Detroit area that deal with children? How many children’s hospitals are there?’ Some quick math was done and the number was 17,” said Metro Detroit Chevy Dealer Scott LaRiche. “Every single person in the room raised their hand immediately; no hesitation whatsoever to get GO Karts into those hospitals.”
Gathered in the Beaumont Children’s Garden in Royal Oak, representatives from the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers were proud to announce the sponsorship of 17 GO Karts for Metro Detroit hospitals in collaboration with Gamers Outreach, a non-profit organization based in Michigan that provides recreation to children in hospitals through video games. This sponsorship represents the largest number of GO Karts Gamers Outreach has ever built on behalf of one sponsor in the state of Michigan.
MDCD is sponsoring the construction and placement of 17 GO Karts — one for every Metro Detroit children’s hospital in need. GO Karts are designed for the hospital environment to provide pediatric patients with recreation.
“When the children start to play one of these games, I think it’s very engaging for them,” said Kathleen Grobbel, Supervisor of Child Life Services at Beaumont Children’s Hospital.” It’s something that sort of takes them out of the spot where they’re in and being in the hospital can be such a difficult thing — it’s unfamiliar to them, they have unfamiliar caregivers, it can be scary, they have medical procedures — and when they start to engage in a video game, it sort of transports them into that world and, sort of, away from the things they’ve been experiencing in the hospital.”
“Prior to receiving sponsorship from our Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers, Beaumont and the other hospitals we’re supporting throughout Metro Detroit didn’t have GO Karts,” said Gamers Outreach founder Zach Wigal. “These Karts now exist in this facility thanks to the support we’ve received and they’re going to have an impact on thousands of children per year for the next, maybe, decade or more.”
Having celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, we couldn’t be more proud of the work that Gamers Outreach does. We look forward to seeing what the next ten years bring to this wonderful organization and are thrilled to be a strong supporter.
You can show your support of Gamers Outreach at their annual fundraiser, Gamers for Giving! Happening March 23-24, 2019, this two-day event will see people bringing their home gaming rigs to the show to join up with their friends — and maybe make some new ones — to play games all weekend long. There will also be a group of streamers, tournaments and more all to raise money for the work that Gamers Outreach does. If you can’t attend, you can watch the stream online and donate directly to the cause!