YouTube gaming creators raise money for St. Jude
When YouTube gaming star Mari Takahashi arrived at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, she was not sure what to expect.
After all, her life is unduly different from many of the patients she met.
Takahashi plays video games and creates video content centered around the Los Angeles-based channel, Smosh Games, which boasts more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube. It’s a lifestyle that she admits consists mostly of fun.
“St. Jude is one of those household names,” Takahashi said. “You always hear about St. Jude, but I realized upon visiting that I really didn’t know anything about St. Jude. And I was absolutely blown away.”
Takahashi was one of 12 YouTube gaming stars with over 37 million combined subscribers to spend a day in Memphis a few weeks ago playing video games with patients in support of September’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The same group will also be participating in St. Jude PLAY LIVE this month, a program that allows creators to stream video games while raising money for patients through a “Donate” button located next to each video. The initiative has raised more than $10 million in the last four years, per St. Jude.
Takahashi was floored to learn that families at St. Jude never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food.
“If a platform like YouTube is able to amplify my voice and talk about my experience, and perhaps have other people think about St. Jude or take action and donate, I’m extremely happy and humbled about that.”
For all but one of the creators, it was their first experience visiting St. Jude. While not all patients recognized the online stars, most were just excited to play video games.
“That’s the heart and soul of what brings people together when they play games, and it’s wonderful,” Takahashi said. “We don’t need to know anything about each other, just the fact that we both want to sit down and have fun and play.”
The super-human experience that video games create is what made Takahashi fall in love with them at a young age. Takahashi said the games can create a sense of accomplishment for patients that would otherwise be unachievable.
“(Video games) are a way for (patients) to, for a moment, step outside their troubles and being in the situation that they are ... it’s a way for them to feel like superheroes, and perhaps gain strength from the fun an imaginative experience of a video game,” Takahashi said.
What Takahashi expected might be a melancholy experience on her visit quickly turned educational. Now, she hopes she can implore people to do the same and learn about the way St. Jude operates through YouTube.
“It gives me a lot of hope, just seeing these kids who are going through such hardships, but at the same time are capable of having so much fun,” Takahashi said.