Your THREE TIME Award Winning Extra Life Campaign
In the heart of the COVID pandemic, and in the parking lot of the WinStar Casino just north of the Red River, I received the 2020 Hero's Award from the Children's Health Foundation.
A few years later, I found myself accepted the 2023 award for Clip of the Year - Excitement live on stream during 2024's Extra Life United.
A couple weeks ago, on the heels of breaking the $100,000 all-time raised mark, I received the Kids Can't Wait Award at a Children's Health Foundation luncheon.
I vividly remember starting this journey a decade ago. I did it spur of the moment with barely a month of a planning--primarily compromised of Googling how to stream. I raised $856 that year in honor of Aven who passed a couple years prior from Leukemia.
The next year, I raised $2,000, hitting that mark after my marathon by downing some booze while sick as a dog. That moment of boozy torture lead me to raising over $5,000 the following year. Since 2019, I've raised over $10,000 per year, consuming countless beverages, spicy foods, shaving my head, growing a pornstache, waxing my chest, and even dying my hair & goatee like Guy Fieri.
It's wild to me that I took a day off work to drive up to Oklahoma to receive my second butterfly-themed piece of hardware. Receiving that award right after Dr. Harold Burkhart, who received his award for performing the first heart transplant in Oklahoma in decades, who couldn't attend because he was--checks notes--performing surgery, was the one of the most surreal things I've ever experienced.
I was reminded of the time I agreed to do an interview during my first Extra Life United where I was asked how it felt to raise over $50,000. Heroes, I learned I raised that much at that very moment. I don't even remember my answer. I remember only the shock and looking up my previous fundraisers to verify as I couldn't believe it.
This award and massive $100,000 milestone comes in a year where I absolutely feel like I don't have it. I've streamed less this year than I have since I started. My promotion at work, dealing with my kids' elementary school closing, being an assistant coach on two baseball teams for them, and parenting in general, has absolutely drained me beyond belief. Any time I think of a consistent streaming schedule, I punt with more enthusiasm than Kirk Ferentz on the plus-45 on 4th and 2 (if you get this joke, congrats, fellow sicko).
I've still raised over $4,000 this year.
This proves two things:
- Y'all are awesome, and, no, this isn't solely Milfy propelled. He's a massive driver, dedicated to my eternal pain and being the top donor, but the vast majority of the number each year isn't his doing. (That being said, I'm gonna have to do something special for the person that does dethrone him).
- It's amazing what you can accomplish when you just show up and commit.
So whether I think I have my A-game or not, I'm showing this year up as always.
I have a well-deserved vacation with Mrs. Tex for a two weeks in Italy, starting next week. I'm looking forward to recharging my batteries and coming back ready to close the second half of the year strong.
In the meantime, why don't you help me change kids' health with a donation today? After all, a couple of us could use some revivals in Minecraft (hi, I'm one of them) for my last stream before my vacation!
