By Jace Digiacomo, website editor (with additional reporting from Lyndzee Amory)

What is a broadcast philanthropy consultant? On Wednesday, Jan. 4, the staff of the Panther Press found out when former student Matt Moffit visited the newsroom.

Moffit organizes Zeldathon, a video game streaming event where participants play “The Legend of Zelda” for three days to raise money for charity. According to the website, the gameplay is supported by live musical performances, sketch comedy, trivia, and other interactive segments. Fans of the group can tune in online at any point to engage via an ongoing chatroom. To date, Zeldathon has held 34 events that have raised over $3.2 million dollars.

Although the results have been amazing, the first event was challenging. Moffit came up with the idea for Zeldathon when he was watching another video game streaming event in 2008. In 2009, he and his friend Zak Ondish decided to play Zelda for 72 hours straight to raise money. It didn’t go as well as they had hoped. The computer crashed, the stream was very poor quality, and both Moffit and Ondish fell asleep. Despite the problems, the first Zeldathon raised $300 for Child’s Play, a non-profit organization that donates games and toys to children’s hospitals.

Since that first event, Zeldathon has become massive. Moffit is currently employed as a senior broadcast producer for Direct Relief, and he continues to raise money for charity. He has branched out into other projects like Coliseum, where 20 people from a certain online community get together in one place and do three days of streams for charity. 

Moffit encourages anyone who has an idea that they’re passionate about to go for it. “Just try it. At least you’re doing something,” Moffat said. “That’s a good first step.”