The Hero of the Week is brought to you by Kidde Worry-Free Alarms… Be a safety hero for your family. Begin by replacing outdated smoke alarms. Learn other simple steps at Kidde.com. Kidde – Technology that saves lives. Find out how you can nominate a “Hero of the Week” at the bottom of the page.
Throughout the week, our ACC Team searches through emails and news articles looking for someone who deserves to be the Kidde Hero of the Week…
Zach Wigal, out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, found a way to turn his passion into a charity program for kids who are unable to leave their hospital beds.
His passion? Gaming.
Through his love of holding gaming tournaments for charity, the Gamers Outreach program was born. Zach took his video games he had collected through his high school years, and he put them on a simple portable video game cart and wheeled that around to the bedside of kids in local Michigan hospitals. After the doctors saw the improvement in the children, word spread, and Zach was asked to make more of these devices.
The 29-year-old has now built what he calls “GOKarts.” People from around the world have donated video games which has grown so much he now uses a warehouse to store it all. And by getting people into gaming to volunteer through the program, he now reaches over a million kids in some 50 hospitals around the country.
Doctors said that thanks to gaming, they have noticed anxiety go down and pain killers are being used less in many of their patients.
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Kix’s Response:
Zach Wigal – what a great job, man! We would like to recognize you as this week’s Kidde Hero!
You can learn more about Zach and Gamers Outreach in this CNN profile.
Nominate a Hero of the Week
Now, we want to know who has made a difference in your life. Nominate a local firefighter, police officer, EMT or someone who is serving our country in the military. It could even be a neighbor, family member or friend who lent a crucial helping hand. Let us know all about the person who you feel is a real life hero by emailing us here and please feel free to send us a picture!
