Hempfield man uses gaming platform to support local charitable causes

Jacob Hixson is due to get a nose ring and a tattoo.

The Hempfield man agreed to undergo those body modifications if followers and subscribers of his online gaming livestreams helped him raise $10,000 during his recent 24-hour holiday charity campaign.

“We surpassed that goal within the first hour,” Hixson said, leveraging a matching $10,000 pledged by three Delmont- based companies that sponsor his gaming venture on the kick.com platform. His sponsoring companies are JstWrk Energy, Axe & Sledge and All American Roughneck.

As a result, in his fourth year contributing to various local causes, Hixson amassed donations and subscription fees totaling more than $37,000.

That money was divided among 16 shelters, rescue groups and other organizations dedicated to animal welfare in Westmoreland County — including White Oak Animal Safe Haven, a no-kill shelter.

As the new year gets underway, it’s time for Hixson to make good on his fundraising challenge.

“It’s just skin,” he said, indicating he’s planning to get the nose piercing and tattoo sometime in January. The design and location of the latter remain to be determined.

The response of Hixson’s gaming fans to his fundraising challenge has grown each year.

In his first effort, he raised $800 to help a family in need in the Southmoreland School District, where he and his wife, Emily, both originally from Scottdale, graduated from high school in 2013.

The following year, he was able to donate close to $3,000 to the Toys for Tots program.

Last year, he said, his gaming charity raised about $12,000 for the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, helping the family of 13-year-old Scottdale boy Marshall Fee, who is waiting for a heart transplant.

All together, donations from 73 contributors have allowed the Fee family to reach and surpass a fundraising goal of $30,000, an amount that is meant to help offset the costs of a transplant and related medical care.

“Every donation we‘ve done was for our community,” Jacob Hixson said.

He’s found that helping others has helped him, which made the idea of starting an annual charity drive even more appealing.

“I was going through a little bit of a mental rough patch at the time,” he said. “The thing that always made me feel good was giving back to people.

“You don’t have to give a lot. It’s more about the effort than the number.”

This year, the Hixsons heard from members of the gaming community who responded to a suggestion to volunteer or make donations at animal shelters in their own communities.

Jacob Hixson’s gaming fans hail from all over the country as well as from other nations such as Argentina, Australia and Thailand.

Though he has training in physical therapy, Hixson found he gets more enjoyment from online gaming and can make an income doing it. To fellow gamers, he is known by his online persona, Dr. Chubz.

“I’ve played video games my whole life,” Hixson said. “I always wanted to make it part of what I was doing.”

With the pandemic prompting more people to look online for activities and entertainment, he said, “I thought it was the time to take a chance.”

He plays games for or with online subscribers, edits and posts highlights of his games for their review and provides other varied content, sometimes performing a dance when he achieves a top score.

“I’m playing a game, and people are watching,” Hixson said of his online site. On Friday nights, subscribers can play games with him instead of just viewing the virtual action.

His gaming livestreams average between 800 and 900 daily viewers, while he’s attracted more than 400,000 TikTok followers with related content.

“I can’t believe the number of people I would call true lifelong friends that I’ve made from this,” he said. “It’s pretty incredible.”

In addition to her own career working for the University of Pittsburgh Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Emily Hixson plays a vital role in her husband’s online fundraising.

“I’m here to provide support behind the scenes,” she said.

That includes keeping track of the funds raised and watching the pair’s three dogs.

But she also spells her husband periodically during his marathon livestreams, temporarily taking over his online chat.

She also keeps him fed during the fundraisers. Sometimes, that means preparing food challenges he undertakes to keep his audience and potential donors engaged.

She concocts unusual dishes for him to sample — eliciting surprise and, often, disgust on his part, to the amusement of online viewers.

Since he likes to shout “Holy Cannoli!” while gaming online, his wife said, “I took the icing out of a little cannoli and put mayonnaise in there instead.”

“I hate mayonnaise,” he said.

In another instance, Jacob Hixson recalled, “She took the tops off cupcakes, made an indent inside and put random stuff in it. I bit into one, and it was tuna fish.

“That was the worst one by far. It was the shock of that flavor.”

Still, it’s all for a good cause.

Given the marked success of this year’s fundraising campaign, the couple is looking into establishing a nonprofit to continue their charitable efforts.

“I’d love this to turn into not just a once-a-year donation, but the ability to raise money all year,” Jacob Hixson said, “to do things for people and animals, whatever comes up. That’s the ultimate goal.”