Fortnite streamer DrLupo raised $1.3 million for St. Jude's Children's Hospital in 2018

Benjamin Lupo, better known to the gaming world as DrLupo, raised more than $611,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital during a 24-hour Fortnite stream, bringing his total fundraising effort for 2018 to $1.3 million. 

"DrLupo, his fan base and the entire gaming community have truly embraced the St. Jude mission in a huge way," said Richard Shadyac Jr, President and CEO of American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, the organization founded in 1957 to raise funds and awareness for the hospital.   

"To raise $1 million for the kids of St. Jude in just one year is an incredible milestone and makes him a leader among his gaming peers. By helping pioneer this innovative way of fundraising, he and his community are leading the charge for the future of fundraising by helping St. Jude continue to fight childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases." 

December's big bundle comes on top of $659,000 raised by DrLupo during the week-long GuardianCon event that took place in July 2018, and more than $140,000 more raised through the Build Against Cancer t-shirt campaign. It's an undeniably impressive amount of money, yet it also represents only a tiny slice of the hospital's roughly $1 billion annual operational costs. The majority of its funding comes from individual donations, and the hospital does not bill for its services. 

"One of the best parts of being a streamer is seeing communities of people form, and working with those communities to help benefit others and leave a legacy of positivity," Lupo said. "Having the opportunity to engage the gaming community in the mission of St. Jude has been life changing, and I'm so grateful to continue to be a part of this legacy to show the good that gaming will do to change people's lives."