Esports for Ukraine fundraiser will donate $250,000 to World Central Kitchen

Since the February 24 invasion World Central Kitchen has set up shop in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. It is serving more than 180,000 hot meals a day and expects that number to grow as the crisis evolves. In addition to meals WCK is also distributing bulk food products like produce and dry goods to partners in Ukraine.

The fundraiser is aiming to meet a donation goal of $10,000 per week.

“Cyberathlete started with a belief that the video games community was bigger and had more influence in the world than anyone could imagine. This year, the 25th anniversary of our founding, the video game, esports and influencer industries top $200 billion dollars,” said Cyberathlete boss Scott Valencia. 

“While people want to step up and support the innocent people affected by this war, many are unsure how to get involved, especially companies with offices and people still in Russia. That’s why we’ve launched this campaign to help everyone contribute meaningfully by working together and partnering with WCK to feed people.”

How to get involved

There’s a few different ways to participate. Companies can become a sponsor of Cyberathlete’s 25th anniversary global esports collegiate event. Cyberathlete will match those sponsorship amounts in direct donations to World Central Kitchen.

Individuals can buy a t-shirt. Cyberathlete and ReadyUp will be working with artists to produce and sell a new t-shirt design every two weeks. All profits from the t-shirt sales will go to WCK on a weekly basis.

Esports teams and influencers can reach out to Cyberathlete to have a custom t-shirt made for their audiences. Cyberathlete plans to cover the artist fees. Credit for the donation to WCK will go to the teams and influencers.

“The power of our industry is not in what any one company or person can give, but in their influence across the gaming community,” said ReadyUp’s Johnathan “FATAL1TY” Wendel. “Teams like Team Liquid or FaZe Clan, streamers like Ninja, Pokimane or Amouranth, and cosplayers like Jessica Nigri could say a word and feed thousands of starving refugees.”

“At the same time, there are over eight million Twitch streamers reaching 31 million people a day and over 6 million Discord communities reaching 140 million people a month–that’s real power! By integrating ReadyUp’s community marketing platform, the gaming industry will drive more discovery and engagement to “Esports for Ukraine” leading to more donations and feeding more families impacted by the Ukraine War.”