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GameStop Partners with Lurie Children’s and Make-A-Wish Illinois to Help Local Kids

For the sixth year in a row, GameStop has teamed up with Make-A-Wish to help make more wishes come true for children with critical illnesses. Upping the ante this year, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals joins the collaborative effort to help local kids get back to being kids, which means Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana GameStop locations will be fundraising for Lurie Children’s and Make-A-Wish Illinois.

GameStop Region 8 Team at Lurie Children’s

Donations will be accepted at GameStop stores and online at GameStop.com from August 29 – September 30. One hundred percent of all customer donations collected will be equally distributed to help kids going through treatment at one of the 170 local CMN Hospitals or by having their wish granted by Make-A-Wish.

“At E3 in June, we announced that our GameStop Gives initiative is focused on using the power of gaming to drive positive change in the areas of youth-wellbeing and education,” said Rob Lloyd, COO and CFO of GameStop. “I am proud to share that our friends at Microsoft announced today – in front of nearly 4,000 GameStop store leaders at the company’s annual GME Conference – that they are joining our GameStop Gives initiative to help kids battling critical illnesses.”

To kick off the September GameStop Gives initiative, Microsoft will donate $10,000 and GameStop will be donating $60,000. Plus, GameStop will donate up to $8,000 from the limited sale of the Xbox® Adaptive Controller exclusively sold at GameStop.com. In the spirit of inclusive design and supporting Microsoft’s “Gaming for Everyone” initiative, the Xbox Adaptive Controller is a first of its kind gaming controller built specifically for people with limited mobility – giving them a more accessible, customizable and inclusive gaming experience.

Local children will benefit from the GameStop Gives initiative, like Adler.

At age 4, Adler was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, hydrocephalus, adrenal insufficiency and chronic pain. He was given a 40% chance to live and spent much of the next fifteen months of his childhood undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. During his time in the hospital, Adler fell in love with video games. He started with a few games on an iPad, but quickly graduated to an Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and now a Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Alienware laptop. While he spent each day getting sick, losing his hair, losing weight and fighting to stay alive, he needed an out. He had to find a way to distract himself from the pain, discomfort and fear, and for him that was video games. It’s what made him happy. It was his escape.

GameStop has made it easy for guests to help local kids in their respective communities:

  • Donate at checkout. Guests can give $1 or more or round up their purchase. Plus, PowerUp Rewards members will receive triple PowerUp Rewards points on the donation amount.
  • Donate PowerUp Rewards points. Members can donate points to each charity in the PowerUp Rewards Center.
  • Trade In for Charity. Donate up to 100 percent of trade-in value to charity when you bring unused video game hardware, software, accessories or consumer electronics to GameStop.

GameStop has been a proud supporter of local sick and injured children, raising nearly $7 million since 2007. Currently, an average of one wish kid per day specifically requests a shopping spree at GameStop as part of their wish and 62 kids enter a CMN Hospital every minute. To date, more than 2,500 wish kids have benefited from GameStop’s generosity through gift cards provided to enhance these shopping sprees and gaming wishes. Funds raised from this current campaign will continue to provide wishes and impact critical care and patient services for local kids.