This past weekend over 50 gamers gathered at Ravenwood Castle for the sixth annual Hoop & Stick Convention. We all enjoyed four days of great gaming, all with the goal of raising money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals!

Hoop & Stick’s fundraising takes several forms – each ticket sold contains a $50 donation, half of each room rental is donated, a portion of sales from custom badge holders and other miscellaneous items, and a huge silent auction. This year we also signed on several amazing sponsors for the event, who in addition to providing items for the silent auction made donations directly to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. All told, we blew past the aggressive fundraising goal we’d set for ourselves, and raised $11,587! Although the event itself has wrapped up, the online donation drive is still active and donations have continued coming in, and as of this writing our total is now up to $11,830!

Our thanks go out to Colby and Joe from Plaid Hat Games for returning as our Guests of Honor, as well as to Mike and the crew from Ohio Pathfinder Society, who ran even more sessions this year than ever before. Special thanks to Jackie O’s Brewery, The Rogue Crusade, Medieval Interactions Gaming and Greater Than Games, all of whom signed on as sponsors this year and really helped push us over the top! And of course thanks to all of the donors to our silent auction. Though they are too many to name here, they are all listed on the right side of our Hoop & Stick page, be sure to check them out!

Finally, as always our thanks to all of the guests who join us year after year for this amazing convention. With your help, since the inception of this convention we have raised nearly $50,000 for children’s hospitals!

The team will be taking a short break to catch our breath after this weekend’s festivities, but will soon be back at work putting the final touches on our summer gaming convention, Con in the Castle 2018. Stay tuned for announcements in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, thank you again for all of your continued support, and we look forward to an even bigger and better Hoop & Stick Convention next year!

Jim Reed

Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.