“You’re not going to find happiness. You have to make it. So get out there and make some happiness.” –Jocko Willink

 

About a year ago, our company started down a path. We had grown to a size that would employ a handful of guys and, aside from the normal routines of business, we lacked a fundamental direction. Like many wise speakers would suggest, we spent time to analyze our position and set a goal to aim towards. Soon after, we rewired our corporate identity around one simple ideal. Instead of fluffing out our marketing stuff with lofty business-speak, we settled on a simple, attainable premise;

 

Make things better.

 

Our company had sponsored local sports teams in the past and, while the funds provided allowed kids to have fun, learn about competitive team play and build sporting skills, we wanted to see exactly how far we could stretch our ‘sponsorship dollars’. Enter; Stack-Up.

Some years ago, Bill (our IT Manager) had spoken with Stephen, now the founder of Stack-Up on a podcast episode surrounding a similar project Stephen had worked on to support the troops. We got the idea, based on this conversation, to put our own skills to work in support of soldiers. After a quick Google search we found Stack-Up and made contact with Dave, the Director of Veteran Services.

We know that the tasks allocated to our military members are arduous and taxing. These difficult feats of heroism are well beyond the scope of our work, but, determined to help, we found a way to support the soldiers that so diligently protect our nation and our allies.

Our approach was simple – let’s use what we know to help bolster the back-end. We asked for support from our main distirbutor, ASI, who kindly sent us a motherboard and processor. Next, we fixed up some old systems and sold them on local online markets for cash which was then used to purchase the parts to make our first gaming system.

That’s the crux of this whole idea – gaming as the means to support.

 

Gaming has provided our staff with wonderful experiences, opportunities to practice empathy and a worldwide community of people to share these moments with. No longer a hobby reserved for kids, we’ve put gaming to work to support the strongest among us – active duty soldiers and veterans of NATO forces through the wonderful programming at Stack-Up.

As we endeavor to build our next rig for the Supply Crate program at Stack-Up, we’d like to take the time to thank our wonderful sponsors who made this inaugural build such a shining success;

 Our Sponsors

Founded in 1987, ASI Corp. is a national distributor of IT hardware and software products; maintaining a professional staff of 500 employees and 13 sales/warehouse locations in the US and Canada. For 30 years, ASI has continually taken a lead role in setting new standards in the distribution of IT solutions and value-add services. Today, ASI carries over 150 product lines and has over 20,000 of the most in-demand products.

We’re the spot in town for local gamers to play and hang out. Between weekly Magic: the Gathering tournaments and a thriving miniature wargaming community, we run tabletop roleplaying games and we’ve got an awesome community behind us that is always open to new players. We’re completely into nerd culture – we have a little library of comics for you to read while you listen to our weekly podcast. Our TV’s are always streaming twitch, speed runs and old school cartoons and best of all, we work really hard to make sure our store is inclusive and beneficial to the gaming community.

Offworld Industries is the continuing evolution of the long-running team which formed around the “Project Reality” mod begun on the BF2 Refractor engine. Project Reality was started 11 years ago with the objective of bringing a greater sense of reality to EA’s Battlefield franchise style of gameplay. It is still active 10 years later and has won many accolades including being inducted into Mod DB’s Mod Hall of Fame in December 2010. The core of Offworld Industries has been working together for the better part of a decade on and off, and have finally reached the point where they were confident they could make it on their own and development standalone games, beginning with Squad.

To learn more about our charitable partner, please visit Stack-Up – https://stack-up.org

Founded in 2015, Stack-Up (TAX ID: 47-5424265) brings both veterans and civilian supporters together through a shared love of video gaming through three primary programs: The Stacks, Supply Crates, and Air Assaults.

Stack-Up helps United States, NATO (UK, Canada, etc.), Australian and New Zealand veterans get through deployments to combat zones and recover from traumatic physical and emotional injuries with the power of video gaming.