Dan Gheesling Visits the DMC

Program News | October 14, 2015

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Last week, we delivered two GO Karts to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan at the Detroit Medical Center.

The delivery marked the first chance we’ve had to work with a Detroit-based hospital, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of Dan Gheesling!

Dan Gheesling is a public speaker; entrepreneur, author, coach and winner of the CBS Reality TV show Big Brother. After two stints on Reality TV, he was called the “best Big Brother player of all time” and “Reality TV’s answer to Dexter Morgan, Walter White, and Tony Soprano” by the New York Post. In the same breath, Entertainment Weekly called Dan the “nicest winner in Big Brother history” and relates his influential ability to “George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven and Paul Newman inThe Sting.”

Aside from his work as a speaker and entrepreneur, Dan is a huge gamer! Upon learning about our work and attending our annual fundraising event, Gamers for Giving, Dan became interested in rallying his community of supporters to construct GO Karts for a hospital close to his hometown.

Children’s Hospital of Michigan is a part of the Detroit Medical Center, and primarily cares for kids in the metro Detroit region. Staff at the hospital told us video games are one of the most requested items by children during treatment.

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Dan, along with his community of Twitch viewers, was able to raise more than $8,000 to support the construction of two GO Karts and games for the hospital! Both GO Karts will serve a special purpose for hospital staff, who now have a way to easily transport games room-to-room thanks to Dan and his community.

Huge props go out to everyone who made these carts a reality! Dan recorded a YouTube video talking about his experience visiting the hospital with us. Check it out to learn more about the project!