During the holiday season, every year people organize toy drives, food collection, and other community based donations. This year most are shopping from home, but this means in person fundraising has taken a hit as well, which has led to some getting creative. This includes YouTuber and Gamer, Sean McLoughlin, also known as Jackspeticeye.
For the past several years McLoughlin has used his platform to participate in, as well as host holiday charity livestreams. Typically his set up involves a production team and a cast of changing characters, but since gatherings are not possible in person he has turned the charity event outwards. In 2016 he participated in Cringemas where he and other creators gathered to do cringey tasks in hopes of raising money for charity and in 2018 he began officially dubbing his holiday streams “Thankmas”. This year’s Thankmas has grown and can now be found in various Internet communities. Insead of hosting one single livestream himself, anyone can create a Thanksmas campaign through Tiltify and raise donations using their unique platform and talents.
Donations from all the streams go to Red Nose Day. These funds are then divided over a number of specific charities and programs which ensure the children who need it most are safe, healthy, educated, and empowered. 2020 has been rougher than most years which means people are more in need than ever. Making this year’s fundraiser more important than most, and the collective efforts of the Internet did not disappoint. With everyone’s combined campaigns Thankmas has currently raised over 4.5 million dollars. This number only continues to climb as events will be held till Dec. 20.
McLoughlin started the event off with his own live stream on Dec. 13. His goal was to hit $500,000, enticing donations with the promise that he would re-dye his hair green. This was exciting news to many fans as he was once known for his bright green locks. Within 3 hours of streaming achieved this goal and fulfilled his promise. After over 6 more hours of streaming, he raised almost 1.5 million dollars, not only exceeding all of his goals but also raising the most money in any charity stream he has ever done.
This was also a landmark even for other streamers. As people came together to give, they also discovered new content creators along the way. Ethan Nestor (Crankgameplays), a YouTuber, gamer, and friend of McLoughlin, raised the second most amount of money, achieving over half a million dollars. This was yet another record broken in this year’s season of giving. So far the event has been beyond success and shows what people can do when they come together. This multi-platform digital event could be the future of fundraising.
If you would like to donate or start your own stream check out this link for more information.