EA hosted the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk at their Redwood Shores headquarters for the 7^th year in a row this past Wednesday, September 15^th. 

Welcoming 1800 community members, fielding a team of 200 EA employees and hosting entertainment and lunch for all participants, EA illustrated its community support and its commitment to fight heart attacks and strokes.

EA Club One Staff Warming Up the Participants

Sky View of Event

Team EA

To learn more about the American Heart Association visit http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/.

Today, Kate Booth, European Manager of EA Outreach gives us an insight into ‘Make a Wish’…..and really shows that dreams can come true.

Thanks Kate for this insight.

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Dreams can come true….

EA are proud to support Make-A-Wish Foundation UK who helps grant magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses.  At any given time, over 20,000 children in the UK are living with life-threatening conditions and in 2009, around 1,000 children will turn to them to have their special wish granted.

During the last month, EA were pleased to be able to help grant the wishes for two very special boys and their families.  Both Ben and Luke spend much of their time playing video games with their friends and family and their wishes were to see how games were developed and EA were only too pleased to show them. 

Our first visitor to EA was Ben who spent time in our Criterion studio home to Burnout Paradise.  Ben learnt what goes into making our car racing games, from the initial concept, to getting the car built to racing it around the world or track.  Ben was even given a sneak preview into how the development was going on the next Need for Speed game; finishing with some game playing time with the experts – our Quality Assurance team who are responsible for the testing of our games.

Next up was Luke who travelled with his family from Scotland for his visit.  This time, Luke visited our Bright Light studio, home to our Harry Potter and Hasbro Family Game Night games.  During his time in the studio, Luke, like Ben, was given a sneak preview into the new Hasbro Family Game Night developments, playing against the studio developers and winning!  His visit was finished off by spending time with our QA team.

A BIG thank you goes to Ben, Luke and their families for coming to visit us – and our game & QA teams who supported this – we had a great time.

Photos of Ben’s visit

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Great story from Kate Booth, EA Europe Outreach Manager based in the UK.  Over to you Kate.

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Paddle for Cancer

At EA we like to work hard and play hard and what better way to demonstrate this but take part in the Paddle for Cancer Dragon Boat race and raise money for a great cause – ESCA (English Speaking Cancer Association (Geneva)). Over to Mike Kearney to tell us about it…

“IN, IN ,IN, we’re pulling ahead, Up the rate !!! IN, IN, IN  !!! ” Rosenblatt screamed from the front of the Dragon boat, hammering the drum at a tempo even faster than the 16 racing hearts of the EA-Paddlers in our boat.

“Paddle for Cancer charity” …. So the mail from Rosenblatt had said…  A paddle ! A picnic at a beautiful mountain lake in the Swiss Jura and some easy fun lured 24 of the Geneva team to sign up. (Almost a third of the office… how’s that for commitment !)

However when we won that first heat by a good nose at 8:30 that crisp Sunday morning, the atmosphere in our picnic area, in that typical EA way, suddenly became highly competitive. Tactics and strategies were devised, starts were discussed, crew rotations made…liquid carbs were taken for “energy” as we eyed up the other 45 corporate teams and families that turned up on the day. The atmosphere was fantastic and Hawaii 5-O blasted out as each heat raced past…it was HARD fun !

The heats were dispatched with Swiss efficiency … 3 races for each of the 45 teams with the 8 fastest boats going through to the Final.

We won heat two by a solid 5 seconds and improved our overall time to 1 minute 46.  20 seconds faster than our heat 1 result !! We were on a roll.

Heat 3 was really tough but stamina and dogged determination won through as we came in by a boat length and more importantly got our time down to 1minute 40…. We could hear the EA supporters screaming on the banks but would our time be enough to get to the final ????   We all watched anxiously as the final heats rolled through……. The results page was posted….we were in !!!

We qualified 5th fastest boat …so in that true EA fashion again we took on more liquid carbs, discussed a few more tactical changes, hid the nerves with bravado and hit the water for the big final.

It was super hard. 16 pairs of aching shoulders driving to the rhythm of the beat. Drummer Rosenblatt screaming at us. The other boats so close…too close…too close to call at the half way mark… the muscles burning as stubborn pride and that competitive spirit drove us on… hundreds on the lakeside roaring their support… but we were pipped into 5th by a Dragon head with the winner a boat and a half length ahead …mere seconds but we had improved our time again to 1 minute 36  !!!

What a day… what a result… what a team … and EA team …. and what a result for Outreach as we raised 4,000 CHF for ESCA.

We vowed to be back and the entry is in for 2010 …make sure you’re in Geneva that weekend and join us !

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Great InsideEA blog post just arrived from our great friend Julie Wynn, the Manager, EA Outreach & Corporate Giving, US.  Thanks for sharing Julie. 

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EA hosts Heart Walk 2009

EA was proud to host the American Heart Association’s Charity walk to raise awareness and needed funds to find a cure for heart diseases for the sixth consecutive year at their Redwood City headquarters on September 16th, 2009.

EA began hosting the AHA’s annual Bay Area walk to honor an employee lost to a heart attack. Spearheaded by CEO John Riccitiello, 120 EA employees were joined by over 1500 local community leaders and concerned citizens on EA’s Great Lawn to walk and raise over $100,000 for the fight against heart disease. 

EA Sports Active was there to show how easy it is to be active;  EA’s Fitness staff was there to lead a pre-walk warm-up, local bands were there to entertainer the crowd and the EA store was opened up to the community to purchase games.

It was a great day to show camaraderie and concern for those we live and work with and a great day to get active for a cause!

Take a look at some of the Photos from the day which give a great insight.  Thank you again to all who gave their time to help.

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