Creative Fundraising Milestone Award – Shaun Jennings
This award celebrates the participant or team who conceived an innovative and imaginative idea, inspiring supporters to contribute toward achieving their goal. The recipient of this award is the individual or team who not only conceived but also promoted and energized their community around a distinctive, creative, or impactful milestone goal, successfully reaching it. This year we are awarding Shaun Jennings for his creative fundraising milestone. Shaun Jennings, a dedicated member of Extra Life Atlanta for the past 13 years, serves as an exemplary model of a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta employee who gives back through his passion for gaming. During the week of Children’s Cape Day, an annual tradition held in October that encourages the community to honor and celebrate the strong and resilient patients facing illnesses and injuries at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Shaun orchestrated a memorable week.
He encouraged his coworkers to donate to his Extra Life page in exchange for writing words of encouragement on an Extra Life T-shirt for a patient. By the end of the week, Shaun successfully raised over $2,000 from rallying his department in his fundraising efforts and personally delivered the signed T-shirt to the patient. Mallory Hall, a former heart patient battling post-transplant lymphoma, finished her appointment on Thursday, Nov. 2, at the Center for Advanced Pediatrics, completely unaware of the surprise awaiting her.
Shaun presented the shirt to Mallory and shared with her his fundraising efforts in the Extra Life Atlanta program. Shaun and Mallory’s connection over their shared love for playing the Nintendo Switch was a heartwarming and unforgettable interaction. They have continued to stay in contact, and Mallory even joined his stream on Extra Like Game Day to cheer him on and support his 24-hour stream. Shaun showcases that you can never underestimate the impact you can make or the power of doing everything possible to make anything possible for kids.