By Mandi Flores
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Music business sophomore James “Tank” Lowe helped expand an online server that provides gaming opportunities for terminally ill children.
The server, called “The Cube: A Friendly Minecraft Server,” which he manages with another online gamer with the screen name “Oli,” offers a portal for an online gaming community. It can be accessed at thecubeserver.com.
It all started April 21, 2011, after his 9-year-son was diagnosed with cancer. Lowe said he discovered the small 12-person game server when his son was going through treatment. He was looking for a
fun and safe place for his son to work on social skills. His son, now 12, is in remission.
The game server he found was run by Oli.
Lowe said they began to work together about three years ago and Oli quickly became his best friend. Oli lives on the East Coast, so they have still not met in person.
After 10 months of working together to expand the server, the pair decided to do something more.
Lowe established a nonprofit charity about a year ago connected with the server to provide laptops for terminally ill children and scholarships to software engineers to encourage the development of educational games that promote community involvement.
He said the charity obtained 501.3c status from the Internal Revenue Service Jan. 8, which allows donations to qualify for tax exemptions.
The charity is always seeking donations to give laptops to needy children so far only in San Antonio. They started raising money when they became nonprofit in January. They have already given one laptop.
He learned Monday of a young patient who needs a laptop immediately. He received a phone call Monday morning from Laura Worsham, R.N., case manager at Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital about a 13-year-old with a terminal prognosis.
This caused Lowe to push for extra donations from everyone he came in contact with.
Lowe has gotten a backpack filled with a laptop and games that have been preloaded. Because the family speaks Spanish, they must work with a translator to set up the meeting.
“We want to change the way that people view gaming and the way they interact online.”
For more information and to donate, visit thecubeserver.com.
