At Strike Zone Gaming we believe in more than just gaming and fun. We believe in giving back to our community and to charitable organizations. We also strive to incorporate charitable events into our daily business to encourage our gamers to be generous givers now and in the future.

 

That is why we have given over $30,000 in our first 3 years of business to the Fenton, Lake Fenton and Holly School Athletics programs, the Fenton's Robotics team, Eagle Scouts, Boy Scouts, Swartz Creek After School programs, the building fund to build a new house for Josh, the VFW, area church youth groups, karate clubs and the Get Well Gamers Foundation.

 

Check out some of the event photos here.

Strike Zone Gaming has always made community a high priority demonstrated by its many charitable programs such as; Free Time for Good Grades, Football Sponsorship, Get Well Gamers, to name a few. This summer Strike Zone Gaming has begun a new community program. "This community program will encourage and reward youth in our area to be good citizens and hopefully become more aware of ways they can effect change for the better," said owner Shanni Yost, "the idea came to me one day when I saw a young man help an elderly lady at Fenton Cinemas." Strike Zone Gaming has created coupons for one free hour that various adults in the Tri-County area, our Hours Fairies, will have and distribute to any young person they witnessed performing a good deed contributing to the betterment of our community. The coupon’s slogan “If it is to be, it must start with me” explains to the recipient that Strike Zone Gaming believes that we all can make a difference and wishes to recognize the good in others. To that end, Strike Zone Gaming wishes to offer them a FREE hour to reward them and encourage them to continue looking for ways they can make a difference. Bearers of the coupon may redeem for a free hour of entertainment at Strike Zone Gaming. "Being raised in this great city and now raising our children here, we are in business to provide a safe place for young adults to socialize without negative influences. We hope to make a positive impact on the youth in our community and plant seeds for their future success."

 

The coupon -

 

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation is a nationwide charity that brings video games and other entertainment to over twenty children’s hospitals across the US, many of which are burn centers and critical care units. Hospitals in the Get-Well Gamers Donation Network can expect a wide range of titles and systems, from classic consoles to the latest and greatest superhero games, all delivered right to their door.

 

What Can I Do?

If you would like to donate to The Get-Well Gamers Foundation, there are many ways to help. The first, and most important, donation is to tell others about The Get-Well Gamers Foundation and its work in hospitals across the country. Also, The Get-Well Gamers Foundation is always looking for contributions of games, systems, accessories, and other gaming equipment that we can in turn donate to hospitals in our Donation Network. Since The Get-Well Gamers Foundation is fully 501(c)(3) certified, any contributions of games, systems, accessories, or monetary donation are all tax-deductible.

 

How Do Videogames Help Sick Children?

Studies have shown that activities such as playing videogames block pain receptors, which is crucial for children experiencing the discomfort of painful illnesses. In addition, videogames help children in extended – and often very insolated – treatment programs stay mentally alert and manually dexterous.

 

To Help:

Drop off you old video games, Dreamcast, PS2, XBox, GameCube,Saturn, N64, controllers, hand held video games, and memory cards at Strike Zone Gaming and we will distribute them to area pediatric wards.

or

If you'd like to make a monetary donation electronically, the Foundation has a PayPal account set up at http://www.get-well-gamers.org that will accept electronic donations. Please remember to include your name address and Strike Zone Gaming so that they may send you a receipt for your tax deduction.

 

By Susan Jenks , Florida Today
A generation raised on video games is inspiring researchers' efforts to unlock the mysteries of a puzzling learning disorder that afflicts millions of school-age children and even some adults.
Whether speeding down a virtual street in Sony's Gran Turismo or slaying Spyro the Dragon, researchers hope games such as these will improve the lives of those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly known as ADHD, or cognitive-processing difficulties.

People with these disorders experience "constant frustration," says Henry Owens, a Melbourne, Fla., clinical psychologist who recently began offering a patented video game system, which evolved from NASA technology, to some of his patients.

"If they just play video games on their own, they will zone out," he says. "When they play on this system, if they zone out, the video game doesn't respond any more," acting as an incentive to improve focus and concentration.

That comes through controlling brain-wave activity, which some researchers say is too slow or too fast in certain areas of the brain when patients have ADHD.

Video game play is a form of neuro-feedback, Owens says, which teaches patients to self-regulate brain-wave patterns to improve learning.

But some researchers remain cautious.

"It's still controversial," says Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

He says studies have yet to show video game play with a neuro-feedback component has either a short-term or long-term benefit, despite parents' desire to explore other options in the wake of recent concerns about Ritalin and other stimulants used to treat ADHD.

They need to ask, "Does it help, and is it the best treatment available?" says Adesman, a spokesman for Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a non-profit education, advocacy and support group in Maryland.

The concern, he adds, is parents might abandon mainstay treatments — a combination of pharmacological and educational interventions that have been tested and proved over time.

Owens, however, says some patients have been using the video game system, developed by the San Diego company CyberLearning Technology, in combination with medications, while others want to try the non-drug alternative first, before turning to drug therapy.

Owens says he has four patients playing Smart Brain Games (www.smartbraingames.com), as the system is known, at home — a recent alternative to in-office sessions, which began about a year ago.

Of the home training, he says, "Its advantage is intensity," although he advises against playing more than 20 minutes a day for children younger than 10, and no more than a half-hour daily for everyone else.

And while the company makes the system available directly to consumers — and it is compatible with any Sony off-the-shelf video game — Owens says that without an initial evaluation with an electroencephalogram or EEG, to map brain activity, "how would you know what's being treated?"

"Because this is so new and such a commitment," he says, "we don't want parents to do it lightly."