Gamers on the Edge Brings Sick Kids Some Fighting Spirit
By Jeff Kotuby ·
Gamers On The Edge combines fighting games with fighting through medical conditions for sick children throughout the country. Since 2011, the organization has hosted competitive fighting game events with one goal in mind: helping children escape their daily lives through video games.
We here at Twin Galaxies love competitive gaming and the healing power of video games. So imagine our surprise when we learned of a gaming charity that embraces both of those philosophies! Gamers On The Edge, a Seminole, Florida-based charity that looks to heal kids through gaming in their own unique way. Twin Galaxies spoke with the organization’s founder, Angel Miranda, to learn more.
Twin Galaxies: Hi Angel, thanks for taking a few minutes to chat. What is Gamers on The Edge?
Angel Miranda: Gamers On The Edge is a group of gamers making a difference in the community. Since 2011, we have taken care of over 10 game rooms and 50 consoles at our local Children's Miracle Network Hospital and have teammates all over North America who raise funds and awareness for their local CMN Hospital. It has truly been an amazing journey. Our first year we donated $233 and in 2017 we donated $15,982 which puts us over $50,000 donated to CMN Hospitals, since we first started. We are ALL volunteers. The team is made up of my wife, myself, my twin boys and an amazing gaming community. We run everything from weekly tournaments, small local events, game rooms for conventions, and a big regional fighting game tournament.
TG: What is the main goal of the organization?
AM: Our main goal is simple: we want to "Make a Difference" in the lives of sick kids by providing gaming consoles and games for them to feel like kids while at the hospital. We want to make a difference in the lives of their parents by teaming up with them and showing them that people do care. We want to make a difference in the life of every gamer we interact with by giving them a community to belong to and a place to get involve, be it in person or online.
TG: Do you have any special moments you can remember from a specific event that you'd like to share?
AM: There are countless of moments with our players but it's the moments that we cannot record that I sometimes remember the most. Hanging out with the kids at the hospital and playing some games while they are stock to a machine for 4 hours. This photo is of a young man named Donovan who is on dialysis 4 hours a day, 3 times a week.
TG: How can our readers help?
AM: We take donations of all kinds, whether it is games, consoles, "geek" items (that we raffle at events), or monetary donations on our website. Following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch. For people who buy from Amazon, they can go to smile.amazon.com and choose Gamers on The Edge as the charity they want to support. This will cost them nothing and Amazon donates .5% of every purchase made through smile!
Gamers On The Edge is hosting the 4TheKids Regional Tournament on May 19-20, 2018. For more details visit the Facebook event page. If you’re interested in competing, you can visit the registration page. We’d like to thank Angel for giving us some time to discuss his wonderful charity.