Grifball Gives Back is a feature of Grifballhub.com highlighting extraordinary Grifballers who are active on the court and in their communities.

This month, Grifball Gives Back is highlighting two fantastic community service events in the gaming community. First up is GrifballHub’s very own BobbyBirdseed and his charity, Extra Life.

“Hello there fellow Grifball community members.

I am writing this article on behalf of an event I plan on participating in, and I hope as many of us as possible will do so as well. This event is called Extra Life. Extra Life is a SarcasticGamer.com community event that takes place in the form of a 24 hour gaming marathon. It’s sole purpose is to raise money that is donated directly to the Texas Children’s Hospital to help fight pediatric cancer. It takes place on one day, October 17th (with a make-up day the following Saturday), starting at 8:00 am in whatever time zone you happen to be in. Last year, it’s very first year, was a great success, as it raised over $120,000! This year, they’re trying to make it even bigger, which is why I’m coming to you guys.

Participation: To participate in Extra Life, all you need to do is seek out donations, donate yourself, or even just play in this event. What they are asking each gamer to find, is at least 4 people in their lives to sponsor them at 1 dollar per hour, to raise a minimum of 96 dollars. (So 1 sponsor at 4 dollars per hour works too!) But the more the merrier!

Committment Issues?: The idea and spirit of this is that everyone pulls together at the same time, but we know that’s not going to be possible. Don’t let a commitment on the 18th stop you from joining Extra Life. Just do what you can and make up the game time later on or in pieces. What matters most is the time you put in BEFORE the event to raise money for these kids. If you won’t be able to finish the whole thing, you can make up the hours you are missing anytime afterward. It’s all on the honor system, and what really matters is that we’re all raising money for a great cause. Your sponsors should know that they are supporting the cause whether you crash on hour 18 or not. It’s for the kids.

Games that qualify to play: ANYTHING! Want to play Hexic on Xbox Arcade? Go for it! Want to play that free Blackjack demo on your cellphone over and over again? Go right ahead! All that they ask for is that you play games! (Perhaps we could run a whole day of Grifball matches as well? Wouldn’t it be sweet if Double XP happened on the same weekend?)

Miscellaneous Odds and Ends: Anyone from any part of the world is encouraged to take place in this event. Cancer effects everyone, so anyone can join in the cause. It is also tax deductible too. Texas Children’s is 503(c) so donations are tax deductible in the U.S. If you live outside of the U.S., send an email to giving@texaschildrens.org and they should be able to help you figure out if the donation is tax deductible in your country. I also plan on getting a couple of local organizations to help out as well, such as the North Star Roller Girls. If you can collaborate with other communities in your area, that would be encouraged as well!

So go out there, get people psyched up to donate and play, because we’re going to raise some money to help the kids and anyone ever effected by cancer. I know we have it in us. Let’s make it happen.

If you’d like to make a donation to the Texas Children’s Hospital supporting GrifballHub’s inolvement, you can do so here.

Please, spread the word with that site. AIM, Phone calls, E-Mails, Twitter, Facebook, everything. Get as many donations as you can. We can and will make a difference. Whether it be $5 or $5,000,000 donations, it does not matter. It all makes a difference.

Thank you,

Bob “BobbyBirdseed” Mattila

(NOTE: Questions and answers were variations of the FAQ located on the Extra Life website.)“

Our second featured Grifballer is Cyanlink and his work with Frag for the Cure. Cyanlink was kind enough to sit down with me and answer some questions about this charity event.

What is Frag for the Cure?

Frag for the Cure is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society that will focus it’s effort on raising money for children with cancer. It takes place in the video game Halo 3 and works very much like a walk-a-thon. Sponsors will put money towards a gamer and for every game won within the time limit, the sponsor gives the pledged amount. The project is brand new and is very narrow, with only 2 people working on it right now. However, I hope that in the future, the project will be able to expand.

How did you hear about it?

I made Frag for the Cure. I run it, it is my project.

Who/what does it benefit?

Frag for the Cure will benefit a place called Camp Sunshine. You can find the website for Camp Sunshine here. It is a camp designed to be a retreat for children with life threatening illnesses.

When is Frag for the Cure?

August 17th 2009, 7 – 9pm EST, 4 – 6pm PDT. I will base the games on what is said on Bungie.net game history, said site runs on PDT, so any game who’s time is between 4 – 6 on Bungie.net will be counted. Only games won will count, I’m looking for a 1st in the place marker, therefore I recommend against any Free-for-all game type unless you are very good at Halo 3.

Why did you get involved with FftC?

(I’ll answer this by saying why I started it.) I got the idea for Frag for the Cure as a way to allow the Halo Clan I’m a part of to have a way to really make a difference. I then quickly realized that I would be able to market this idea to the entire Halo Community.

Why should others get involved?

Frag for the Cure joins a plethora of similarly minded organizations that all work towards the same goal, raising money for Cancer Research. But Frag for the Cure, while not the first video game based fundraiser, is still in a medium that has not yet been recognized as a way to effectively set up fundraisers.

How can others get involved?

If they want to donate money, they can sign up to be a sponsor on our website. If they want to be one of the people to play games, they can sign up as a gamer on our website. However, for this year, there is a limit of 100 gamers, so sign up soon if you want to get involved.

Lastly, the website is not yet up, I know that the website’s URL will be fragforthecure.com, but for right now we are still looking for a web host. If you want to know the exact time the website goes up, when it does, I will post that information on both my Rooster Teeth homepage and my twitter account.

As always, Grifballers are encouraged to submit their community service experiences to and include pictures from the event and the name of the benefiting organization.