Gaming for good: Annual gaming streamathon raises over $12,000 for the Jimmy Fund

James LeBlond, also known as CommishLB to the gaming world, is the host of The Fluffy Kitty Ninjas Show and a member of the Jimmy Fund Let’s Game® community. Jimmy Fund Let’s Game streamers can be found all over the world, streaming to raise money to fund cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with their followers, while doing what they love. James has been an avid gamer for nearly four decades and completed his third annual Fluffy Kitty Ninjas Charity Streamathon for Dana-Farber in early August, raising over $12,000 to support the quest to tell cancer “game over!”

What started as a spur of the moment idea has grown into an annual event for James, with strong support from other streamers committed to creating a cancer-free future. The annual Streamathon theme is built upon a baseball premise, with the official slogan “Strike Out Cancer in Kids.” He plays Out of the Park Baseball 23 and is joined by numerous other streamers throughout the duration of the four-day Streamathon. “It has grown from a one-day event raising $766 in its first year to a four-day event this past August, raising $12,592.09,” James shares. “The .09 is a symbolic tribute to the great Ted Williams, a longtime Jimmy Fund supporter and Boston Red Sox player. It is our intent to continue to support Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund and ensure that .09 is always in our final donation tally, in honor of ‘The Splendid Splinter.'”

James says that being familiar with Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund is synonymous with being a lifelong Red Sox fan, due to the team’s support for the Jimmy Fund since 1953. He first heard about the Institute’s lifesaving mission in the late 1970s and is thrilled to use his talents to give back to an organization that has been so integral to his experience growing up in New England. Cancer has affected the lives of many of James’ family members and friends, inspiring him to support Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund because he knows that these donations assist in removing some of the burdens that cancer brings to so many patients and their families. “I am just one voice,” he shares, “but if my efforts can help Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund make a difference in cancer patients’ lives, I will do whatever I can to support them.”

James has worked hard to grow his online community and to spread the mission of Dana-Farber throughout the gaming world. When asked what his favorite part of streaming is, James says: “The pure adrenaline and energy it provides. My community has people from age 20 to 70 in it. They’re all fabulous people; they always make my day, and they are the best part of hitting the ‘Go Live’ button.” His experience gaming for the Jimmy Fund has been fulfilling and rewarding. James’ advice for other streamers interested in bringing their gaming community together to help the Jimmy Fund defy cancer? “What are you waiting for?! Do it!”

If you are interested in joining the Jimmy Fund Let’s Game® community, please contact Kenneth Chamberlain, Let’s Game Community Manager, at  JimmyFundLetsGame@dfci.harvard.edu. Help support these efforts by joining The Dana-Farber Campaign, our ambitious, multi-year fundraising effort to prevent, treat, and defy cancer. The Dana-Farber Campaign will accelerate the Institute’s strategic priorities by supporting revolutionary science, extraordinary care, and exceptional expertise. As a community, we have the power to create a more hopeful, cancer-free future—in Boston and around the world. Together, we can defy cancer at every turn. Learn more about The Dana-Farber Campaign and how you can get involved at DefyCancer.org.