We had brought you news about Child's Play before and what a great cause it was, but here is another great extension to help the further the cause, Rock-A-Thon. The Rock-A-Thon is the brainchild of co-founders Paul Slawinski (Houston) and Corey Schon (Orlando) and is a four day Rock Band event to help raise funds for children in need. The event is scheduled to kick off on Black Friday, so while greedy consumers will be fighting over the newest Tickle-me Elmo, gamers will be showing their true colors and helping out while playing 100 hours of Rock Band and an estimated 1,000 songs. I really love covering stories like these that show the other side of gamers and the potential that we have as a community to do better for everyone.

Here is the official Rock-A-Thon press release for you guys to check out:

HOUSTON – August 25, 2009 – What do an alligator, global megahit Rock Band®, four sleepless days and Texas Children’s Hospital have in common? They are all tied to an incredible charity event this Thanksgiving – The Rock-A-Thon – that will bring joy to thousands of children worldwide.

The Rock-A-Thon brings together some of the most passionate and well-known players of the cultural phenomenon Rock Band together for four days of nonstop playing to raise money for children’s charity Child’s Play. During the event, the group will play for 100 hours straight and will play every Rock Band song available, which is estimated to be about 1,000 songs by the time of the event.

Houston web hosting company HostGator.com has recently announced it will be the Presenting Sponsor for this year’s Rock-A-Thon. Because of HostGator.com’s commitment, the group has been able to secure a location for the event at the Meridian (1503 Chartres, Houston) and has received space and bandwidth for the Rock-A-Thon website (www.therockathon.com).

The Child’s Play charity (www.childsplaycharity.org) was started to collect donations that are used to purchase new books, toys, and videos games for children’s hospitals all over the world. In 2008, Child’s Play received more than $1.4 million in donations and has made donations to more than 60 hospitals worldwide, including Texas Children’s Hospital.

The Rock-A-Thon is the brainchild of co-founders Paul Slawinski (Houston) and Corey Schon (Orlando), who were inspired by other gaming charity events.

“We noticed several groups used the Internet as a platform for charity events, but we had a vision that we could tap into the universal appeal of Rock Band and hold the charity at a public location,” Slawinski said. “This way, we could increase the potential reach of the event, which will help to bring additional money to Child’s Play.”

The Rock-A-Thon begins on Black Friday, November 27th, at 12:05 a.m. at the Sports Bar at Meridian. The group will feature 14 members playing in 50-song shifts of four people (1 vocals, 1 guitar, 1 bass, 1 drum), plus two additional people for The Beatles Rock Band songs (which require three-part harmony in addition to the instruments). All songs will be played on Expert setting.

The public is welcome to visit the Sports Bar during the event to cheer on the group, to bid on one of several unique silent auction items or to make a donation directly to Child’s Play.

For more information on The Rock-A-Thon or to make a donation, visit www.therockathon.com.

About HostGator.com

HostGator is a leading provider of web hosting including shared hosting, reseller hosting, and dedicated servers. The company provides hosting for over 2.2 million websites and supports more than 50,000 resellers worldwide with 24/7 technical support and state-of-the-art web hosting tools including free billing software for resellers and access to over 4,500 high quality free web templates.

About The Rock-A-Thon

The Rock-A-Thon brings together 14 Rock Band aficionados from around the country for a nonstop four-day charity event to benefit Children’s play, which raises money for books, toys and games at children’s hospitals around the world. For more information on The Rock-A-Thon or to make a donation, visit www.therockathon.com.