Gaming For Heroes Bro-B-Q

Story by Nerd Louisville Staff

Gaming For Heroes is holding a charity barbecue this Saturday at the Active Heroes Military Family Community Center here from 2-6 p.m. Gaming For Heroes will be live-streaming video games, like Sbobet and casino games like EasySlots, in an effort to raise funds for locally headquartered veterans non-profit, Active Heroes.

Attendees can purchase barbecue at the event and proceeds go to help Active Heroes’ numerous veterans programs, especially those focused on assimilation back into society and fighting veteran suicide.

“It’s a dual event which is what makes it cool,” said Michael Snyder, a volunteer with Active Heroes that leads the Gaming For Heroes initiative. “People coming in from Louisville get to see what this new program has to offer and at the same time we’re raising money online and informing people about Active Heroes.”

Snyder said Gaming For Heroes began when his PS4 gaming community, Remnants of an Empire, hosted a 22-hour online gaming marathon and raised $1500 that went to support Active Heroes programs. Then follow with casino players from starslots.com and other online casino community. The number 22 was decided upon because at the time veteran suicides were averaging 22 per day. The stream had more than 1,000 unique viewers during the event. Now, Snyder wants to do an event locals can participate in. Thus, a barbecue and an online live stream. You can check this awesome site clubvip777.com for online casino games.

“It was so successful we decided to do more,” Snyder said. “Why not do something awesome and turn this into something bigger?”

Snyder met with Troy Yocum, president of Active Heroes, and his wife, Mareike Yocum, vice president of programs originally just to do a follow-up event, but the meeting sparked the idea for a broader arm of Active Heroes specifically focused on gaming.

“I wanted to say this is the official gaming community of Active Heroes,” Snyder said. “We can do a little bit better. Let’s make this Gaming For Heroes. The Yocums have been incredibly supportive of the idea.”

The event will be a “charity tug of war”, which means for every $50 total that is donated to Active Heroes, the Gaming For Heroes stream will go for another hour of time. Snyder said he chose live-streaming for the fundraiser because of the interactive nature of the entertainment.

“Why do people watch other people play videogames? You’re interacting with them,” he said. “They’re asking questions. You’re telling them what you’re doing and why. It’s really unique entertainment.”

Veterans and non-veteran gamers alike can join Snyder and Gaming For Heroes this Saturday for the barbecue or follow the stream online at twitch.tv/romngaming. If you are a PS4 gamer and are interested in joining Snyder’s gaming community, visit the Remnants of an Empire website.

You can learn more about Active Heroes and their programs on their website. Notably, they have a retreat in Shepherdsville, Ky. with cabins, community center, and a lake, where veterans can participate in activities, like camping, archery, etc., and other programs for free (public admission is $22).