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GAX all about fundraising for charity

Moose Jaw and District Food Bank program Mighty Munchies earmarked for 2019 donation

There’s no question the Moose Jaw Gamer’s Association Summer Gamer Expo is all about fun. But there’s a serious undertone that has helped make the annual event not only a popular stop from a gaming aspect but from a charitable one as well.

This year, GAX is raising funds for the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank’s new program, Mighty Munchies.

The way the program works is when a family picks up a hamper from the Food Bank if there are school-aged children they’ll receive a bag of healthy snacks including granola bars, yogurt sticks and other delicious goodies.

“It’s a great program and one we thought we would support this year,” said GAX organizer Kristian Sjoberg. “Kids eat like seven meals a day because they’re growing, so between breakfast lunch and dinner, they have these small snacks. And at school, they have lunch programs through Hunger in Moose Jaw, but if recess has a snack time as well, they might not get those snacks. So they’re sitting there feeling left out because their parents can’t afford snacks.”

That’s where Mighty Munchies comes in, acting not only as a food program but a social program as well.
“It covers a lot of bases. And when Deann (Little) from the Food Bank and I talked about this, it was about how they feel about themselves and not feeling left out, they don’t have to beg their friends for snacks,” Sjoberg said. “That’s what the Mighty Munchie program is all about.

“So we’re hoping to raise as much as we can and we’re trying to promote it, we’re challenging other charities and organizations to match our donation or make their own donation.”

While Sjoberg wouldn’t hazard a guess as to how much that donation might be, past results show it could be sizeable – in 2018, the MJGA facilitated $3,000 worth of donations toward literacy at the two school district, and the year before saw $1,250 donated to Hunger in Moose Jaw. Interestingly enough, the total number of players who took part in both the Summer and Winter GAX events in 2017 was exceeded by Summer GAX on Saturday afternoon, with a full day and a half still left to play and raise funds.

“So the chances are the donation will be quite a bit more than that, but we’ll see what happens once we add everything up,” Sjoberg said. “We’re just happy to be able to help and we’re looking forward to giving as much as we can.”

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