LiquidAgents Healthcare’s Neal Roberts Gives Back to Free of Charge Orthopedic Hospital
Second “Diablo II” speedrun livestream generates $15,000 for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital
Ample amounts of natural light, bright and inviting colors and the smell of fresh popcorn float throughout the halls. Under the sea and four seasons themes replace the typical unit names of the hospital. All aspects of The Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children is created to support kids who come to the facility seeking aid for orthopedic or dyslexia care, free of cost.
This year, Neal Roberts, Alex Smentelli and Pascal Fischer presented Scottish Rite Hospital with a $15,000 donation to continue their practice. The amount was raised through a charity livestream speedrun of “Diablo II”. LiquidAgents Healthcare contributed $1,500 of the total sum.
A speedrun is when a player aims to complete a game as fast as possible, often attempting to shave only seconds off their current record. “Diablo II” is an action role-playing game featuring elements of fantasy and horror. It was released in 2000 for PCs by Blizzard Entertainment.
Livestreamer Sementelli, known as MrLlamaSC online, recalled Roberts, senior compliance manager at LiquidAgents, suggesting Scottish Rite Hospital for a charity stream two years ago.
“The more that I read and the more videos that I watched, the more I just thought ‘What a great cause. This is the sort of thing that I want to support,’” Sementelli said.
This was the second fundraiser presented by LiquidAgents. The first was in 2016 when Roberts, Sementelli and Pascal donated $2,300 to Scottish Rite through a “Diablo II” speedrun.
“The community has grown significantly in the year, so there were a lot more people watching,” Roberts said. “And the popularity of [Alex] and [Fischer] have grown significantly. So, we had a lot bigger base to start with.”
Scottish Rite Hospital for Children was founded by a group of Texas Masons in 1921 when they opened their doors to provide medical care to children with polio — regardless of a family’s ability to pay . After the eradication of polio in the late 1950s through vaccines, Scottish Rite focused their efforts on pediatric orthopedic condition. Scottish Rite has also treats sport injuries and fractures and learning disorders according to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital’s website.
Over Scottish Rite’s 97 years of operation, they have aided 298,000 children. Actively, Scottish Rite Hospital sees 17,000 children ages infant to 18 years old. A large percentage of the patients are from Texas but the hospital accepts patients from around the world, Scottish Rite’s development officer Mike Stimpson said. One feature patients and visitors often note is the inviting atmosphere at the hospital from the vivid colors to the aroma of popcorn.
When development began on the current facility, located in downtown Dallas, the donors for the hospital had specific requests to make it a state-of-the-art children’s hospital from the to the smell.
“It was very important to [the donors] that it not look like a hospital, smell like a hospital or feel like a hospital … that was a very intentional plan when building the hospital,” Stimpson said.
Roberts, Sementelli and Stimpson expressed their passion for the continuation and growth of the partnership in the coming years.
“First of all, it has been a huge learning experience for us at the hospital about gaming culture,” said Stimpson. “And of course, it is exciting to see how the speedrun has grown in just two years. And so, we are excited what will be coming up for the third year and going forward.”