Inspired by her pupper, a streamer sets goal of $5,000 for Sacramento SPCA fundraiser

Animal lovers and video game enthusiasts can unite April 4 for local gamer Emma Skies’ annual charity livestream on Twitch, where she uses her gaming platform to raise funds for the Sacramento SPCA in celebration of her rescue dog Milly’s adoption day.

“There’s this huge culture on Twitch around charity streams,” Skies said. “Charity in itself has become a huge part of Twitch, and I always wanted to do one.”

Skies adopted her dog Milly in 2017 from the Sacramento SPCA and decided to start her first charity livestream in 2018 to celebrate her pup.

Skies wasn’t sure how much money she would be able to make that first year as she has a modest platform, averaging around 25 viewers per streaming session. She set her 2018 goal at $500 and ended the session with over $1,000 in charitable funds.

In 2019, she set her goal at $1,000.

“We made that in 20 minutes,” Skies said. “We made $3,000 by the end of the night.”

Skies continues to aim high, setting this year’s goal at $5,000. She said viewers for her charity stream night has grown to an average of 50 to 60 people, her most-watched stream of the year.

“For a relatively small platform, it’s an exciting night,” Skies said.

Skies, a gamer for 20 years, started streaming content around four years ago, and regularly streams four times a week for around three hours a day. She also co-hosts a podcast on Twitter about gaming called Video Game Bang.

“My entire life it was just a fun thing that I did, just a hobby. But a few years ago, as it got bigger and bigger, you start to realize you can make something out of it,” she said. “Some people really enjoy watching other people play video games.”

Skies streams from noon to midnight for her charity livestream, breaking the schedule up into two-hour segments that usually include single-player games like last year’s Spider Man and Jackbox games that viewers can participate in on their phones and, later in the evening, horror VR games.

“Sometime during the night, we celebrate Milly’s birthday with a dog cake,” Skies said. “I put a little hat on her. It’s ridiculous, but it’s a reminder of why we’re doing all this, I got this great dog a few years ago and now I want to do what I can to give back.”

Milly will be around 5 years old this year. Skies said she hopes her charity for the SPCA will encourage people to adopt their pets and go to providing comfort and medical care to animals in shelters.

The SPCA is a 100% nonprofit organization. It relies on donations from people like Skies to help alleviate the issues of homeless animals by funding programs like their high-volume, low-cost spay and neuter clinic that alters over 18,000 animals a year, according to Sacramento SPCA spokeswoman Sarah Varanini.

Other SPCA programs include free or low-cost vaccinations to pets of low-income community members and low-cost wellness clinics for animals in need of preventative care or treatment. Donations also help the SPCA fund humane education and camp programs for children to foster awareness about animal welfare, according to Varanini.

“The Sacramento SPCA is so thankful for Emma going above and beyond, raising over $4,000 in the last two years,” Varanini said. “That amount covered over 16 large dog spay and neuter surgeries.”

Skies said she wants to help as much as she can, and that she is glad she can use her platform to create an amount of charitable funds that she alone would not be able to donate, all in order to help the organization where she found her beloved pet Milly.

“It’s really great to bring a group of people together to do it,” Skies said. “I’m excited to help shelters, and to get more people out there adopting animals.”

Find Skies on Twitter and Twitch. Login and donate to her SPCA charity livestream on Twitch April 4, from noon to midnight.

This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 2:32 PM.