2020 would have marked the seventh year for Campaign Against Cancer, a tabletop charity event focused on Star Wars™: X-Wing. Instead of an in-person event, the dedicated crew at Twin Suns Charities will be hosting a telethon instead, again raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Fantasy Flight Games spoke to Chad Hoefle, president and founder of Twin Suns Charities, to get some background on the organization and their mission.
How and when did you get into X-Wing in the first place?
I got into X-Wing in Wave 1 of first edition. There was a display at my local game shop, and I was looking for something that I could do with my young nephew while he was staying with me. The store attendant at the time assured me that it was easy enough to understand, and the fact that it was Star Wars-themed with detailed ship miniatures was a huge selling point for me. I took the Core Set home and immediately fell in love.
What is Campaign Against Cancer?
Campaign Against Cancer (CAC) is quite literally a community effort to come together for a single cause, benefiting the fight against cancer. On one day of the year, we all come together to play games and donate money towards a cause that we really believe in. This is just one of the ways in which we can impact the world and help someone else. Whatever we raise, as much of that goes to the beneficiaries like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Telethon Kids Institute as possible. Every gamer, staff member, and store owner who participates in CAC does so as a volunteer to ensure that we can help the cause as much as possible.
What was the impetus behind starting Campaign Against Cancer?
The first Campaign Against Cancer event was in 2014 and was brought about by my shared loves of volunteerism and gaming. At the time, I was stage managing for our local Relay for Life event for the American Cancer Society as a volunteer. After attending FFG events at the local, regional, and national levels, I was impressed by the quality and character of the new friends I was meeting and thought that it would be a nice idea to organize a charity X-Wing event to benefit the ACS. I put together a small team of gamers who had knowledge of graphics, gaming, events, and software development to help me put together the first CAC in South Bend, Indiana. After that, we spread to more and more cities each year.
What’s been the most surprising thing you’ve encountered running CAC?
In a single word, growth. In no way did I ever expect this event to grow beyond South Bend, let alone span into multiple countries. As the event has grown from one location in the US to 35 locations in five countries over the years, we have continued to draw in more and more players who have raised more and more money for the benefit of others. In six years, we have raised nearly $130,000, with 2019 bringing in over $47,000, all because of this fantastic player community. There was no way I saw any of that coming and I am amazed by what they do each year. Our success has been such that we were even able to have a booth at the 2019 Star Wars Celebration in Chicago to talk about X-Wing gaming for charity, which was an incredible honor for me.
Read the article in full here. Tune in for the Campaign Against Cancer telethon, or contribute to the cause, by checking out Twin Sun Charities or tuning into the event on Twitch starting at 10:00 PM Central Time on July 17th, and ending at 10:00 PM on July 18th. We wish them well!
