Stay-at-home dad converts gaming passion into fundraiser for children’s hospital
MIRAMICHI, N.B. — A stay-at-home dad is scheduled to fly to Florida from his home in New Brunswick on Thursday in a bid to turn his lifelong passion for gaming into a charitable money-maker for sick children.
Kris Jardine said his saga of turning a hobby into a fundraiser began last November when he played four different video games for 24 hours, as friends and acquaintances donated $479 to provide to the IWK children’s hospital in Halifax.
Organizers at the IWK Health Centre gathered the names of fundraisers who’d donated to the hospital and picked Jardine’s name out of a hat for the trip to Florida, where he’s scheduled to play other gamers for additional cash for the hospital starting Thursday.
“I’ve been playing games since the 1980s … Super Mario days,” he said during a telephone interview. “I never thought 30 years later I could take a passion and do good things for kids.”