Alumna Suzanne Jackiw is taking her video gaming to the next level by raising money for children hospitals.

Jackiw and thousands of others will spend 25 straight hours playing video games for charity on Saturday. The gaming marathon is an international event put together by Extra Life.

The money raised by each team of marathoners will go to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Jackiw, her boyfriend and Team Unicorn have raised more than $550.

“I’ve actually been training,” Jackiw said. “Which sounds lame, but there is like a 10-hour wall of sitting down and just gaming where you’re like ‘I cannot do this anymore, I’m done.’”

Extra Life began in 2008 when a group of gamers came together to raise money for the Texas Children’s Hospital.

In the first two years, Extra Life raised $302,000 from more that 12,000 donors. Mike Kinney, project coordinator for Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, said Extra Life raised more than $2 million last year.

“Video games aren’t seen as a positive thing for the most part in society,” Jackiw said. “I wanted to find something good to do with video games that could be considered volunteering.”

Jackiw and Team Unicorn are having their gaming marathon at Spacelab, 11028 Front St. in Mokena. Spacelab is run by an independent video game company, Lunar Giant Studios, and is a community workspace that offers classes and social events.

“Suzanne came to me with Extra Life, and I thought it was a great idea,” said Jay Margalus, co-owner of Lunar Giant and manager of SpaceLab. “It fits kind of like our ethos of giving back to the community.”

Kinney said most participants don’t use public spaces during their marathons.

“Ninety-five percent of the Extra Lifers participate and do the marathon from their own homes,” Kinney said. “But we’ve seen some really cool grassroot efforts of people getting involved with their local gaming stores and hosting the 25-hour marathons there.”

Joining the team is free, and raising money isn’t necessary to participate. Jackiw encourages everyone to game with Team Unicorn.

“We’re trying to get people to come to this space and game with us,” Jackiw said. “We’ve actually been recognized by Extra Life as an official location for the marathon.”