LaSalle-Peru senior Lucas Barry raises $1K for St. Jude’s during charity Twitch stream

While some may view video games as a waste of time and money, LaSalle-Peru High School senior Lucas Barry was able to use his video game platform to raise more than $1,000 for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Barry held a charity Twitch stream Dec. 23 with the goal to raise $500 for the cause, but because of the generosity of his viewers, he was able to double that goal.

He began streaming himself playing video games around August after taking the advice of friends who do the same. Because of the pandemic, Barry found himself with more time than normal to devote to his craft.

Twitch is a popular streaming service where content creators can play games and entertain viewers around the world.

“I told my mom, ‘I want to start streaming, and I can also make money off of it,’ but for me it’s not about the money, it’s for entertaining.”

—  Lucas Barry

“I’ve done other platforms like YouTube and TikTok, but when I started Twitch, I didn’t think I would get the growth that I was getting,” Barry said. “I definitely plan on continuing to do it in the future.”

Barry’s following on the service grew quickly as he rose to Twitch Affiliate status, which allows creators to monetize their channels and work toward creating a partnership with the company.

After seeing the growth, Barry got the idea for a charity stream thanks to his grandmother’s influence. Barry’s grandfather passed away from cancer, and the connection to want to help others dealing with cancer came as a no-brainer.

“I wanted to at least try to help and raise as much money as I can,” Barry said. “I wanted it to go to St. Jude’s and try to help kids who have the unfortunate disease. I just wanted to try to help as much as I could.”

Over the life of the stream, Barry played many different games to entertain his viewers, including Need for Speed, For Honor and Dragon Quest XI.

Barry said he likes to play a multitude of games to attract new viewers. For Barry, his goal is just to entertain anyone who stops by.

“I want to attract other viewers that like different games as well,” Barry said. “They’re interested in checking out new streamers, especially during the charity stream.”

On Barry’s Twitch channel, he was able to set up donations to go directly to St. Jude’s fairly easily. The stream went on for hours, as Barry believes he received a maximum of 30 viewers watching his channel at one time.

Barry planned to stream for 12 hours to raise the initial goal of $500, but thanks to the generosity of his viewers and a maximum donation of $200, he was able to end the stream in half the time with double the funds raised.

Barry said in the beginning of his streaming venture, his parents and family needed some explanation into the world of Twitch, but since he began to grow he has received the support of his family.

“I kind of got through more to my mom at first than my dad,” Barry said. “I told my mom, ‘I want to start streaming, and I can also make money off of it,’ but for me, it’s not about the money, it’s for entertaining.”

Barry said that, going forward, any money he is able to receive from Twitch he plans to give to various charities, as he wants to continue to grow and entertain those who choose to follow him.

Barry enjoys entertaining those who join his stream any way he can, whether it be from conversation, his video gaming talents or by playing his saxophone.

He plans to prepare for another charity stream around the same time next year when – hopefully – he is able to set the goal even higher than the first time around.

Barry is completing his final year at L-P and plans to attend Illinois Valley Community College before transferring to a four-year university with an esports program so that he can continue to do what he loves.