ArvCon celebrates ten years of grassroots fundraising
Every Memorial Day Weekend for the past decade, speculative fiction author, English professor, and TwitchTV host Gregory A. Wilson, PhD, has organized a livestream gaming fundraiser known as ArvCon to benefit Damon Runyon.
Over the course of four days, participants play a series of tabletop role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, which are live-streamed on Twitch so viewers at home can watch and donate to give various benefits to the players. Viewers are also eligible for random giveaways of graphic novels, boardgames, e-game codes, and other products donated by gaming and publishing companies.
To date, ArvCon has raised over $40,000 for Damon Runyon scientists.
“I know it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed, but for our community, it’s a big deal,” Dr. Wilson said. “These are all individual donors, many of whom are themselves cancer survivors. This is them thanking the people who have saved lives and made lives better.”
The author was inspired to organize ArvCon in 2015, after his dog passed away from an aggressive cancer. But, he says, it was not entirely about his dog.
“It brought back the feeling of frustration and helplessness of when my mother died of breast cancer, and I felt that there was nothing I could do, since I wasn’t a scientist,” he recalled. “But by that time, I was streaming on Twitch and had built up a community, so I thought bringing people together to raise money could help me get over this sense of helplessness.”
His mother had been a Broadway actress in the 1960s, so Dr. Wilson was familiar with Damon Runyon’s Broadway ticket program, but the more he learned about the young scientists it funded, the more impressed he was by the work they were doing. He liked that the Foundation “takes big swings” and funds projects that may not get funded via traditional mechanisms, and that it channels the energy and enthusiasm of young scientists.
For the past several years, Dr. Wilson has invited a few such scientists to participate in ArvCon as gamers. Recent participants include Drs. Sangwoo (Steven) Park, Brendan Floyd, and Catherine Triandafillou.
“We get to see another, more personal side of the scientists, and they’re always great,” Dr. Wilson said. “I’m always glad to see the scientists talking to each other. They’re doing very different kinds of research, but Damon Runyon brings them together.”
Dr. Wilson hopes to inspire others to consider how they can contribute to cancer research even if they don’t work in a lab or have the resources to host a fancy event. Since ArvCon is mainly virtual, anyone can participate from anywhere.
“I’m trying to get people to think outside the box,” he said. “The way Damon Runyon scientists do.”
