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During Pandemic, GameStop Overnights Needed Hardware to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital

In the midst of these challenging times due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a Bay Area GameStop Store Leader Ally De Torres, and her company, stepped up overnight to help kids at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, Calif.

Ally is a proud supporter of CMN Hospitals. In GameStop’s first year of partnership, Ally led her store to be the top fundraiser during their CMN Hospitals point of sale campaign. Ally delighted in seeing her store’s associates connect on a deep, personal level with their local CMN Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “During the latest in-store donation campaign, we arranged for some of our employees and District Leaders to attend a hospital tour [at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital]. We worked hard to prepare an in-store charity event for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and made it our priority to hit our goal of $1,000 for that day.”

Ally’s Bay Area store rallying together last fall to fundraise for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital

To promote social distancing, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital sought opportunities for their medical teams to move towards tele health, and away from face-to-face interactions. Because of the relationship GameStop’s Ally De Torres had built with the hospital’s foundation team, specifically Jackie Curran, Jackie contacted Ally, sharing, “At UCSF we are switching as much as possible of our patient interaction to tele health to help protect our vulnerable patients and physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. We just received a note from our leadership that we are severely lacking in webcams and headsets for our doctors and nurses to use. They have tried to place an order but there is a large shipping delay and we need access to these items as quickly as possible.

Ally quickly went above and beyond her call of duty, connecting the hospital’s team with GameStop corporate; the company has been supporting CMN Hospitals and Extra Life since 2018. GameStop’s charitable giving division, GameStop Gives, led by Martha Sotelo, sprang into action to donate 80 gaming headsets directly to the hospital and expedited the shipping for an overnight delivery.

“When we saw the call for help from the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital team for electronics we sell, our team knew we had to help these dedicated health professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Martha says. “We sent overnight what we had readily available to the team so they could use immediately to assist their tele health program which has seen a spike in demand. We are all in this together and hope this donation can help ease the burden, albeit in a small way, for those caring for patients daily.”

GameStop sent 80 Turtle Beach’s Elite Atlas Wired Gaming Headsets, valued at $99 each, which will make a powerful impact at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital during this national emergency.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is grateful for partners like GameStop who generously support sick and injured kids, and their families, during this challenging and scary time. The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the world in ways we have never previously faced. Kids can’t wait to get the care they deserve; supporting children’s hospitals ensures they have the resources they need to care for kids, especially in times of crisis. Together, we can change kids’ health, together we can change the future. Donate today to support your local children’s hospital.

Don’t forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!