--- title: "Dunkin’ and Comcast Business Team Up to Host National Esports Tournament in Support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month" url: https://burnaze.com/article/241c80a1-af90-4fb4-a372-2976b585cd48 source: "Franchising.com" original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20220913_dunkin_and_comcast_business_team_up_to_host_national_esports_tournament_in_.html category: "Coffee & tea" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Coffee & tea" published: 2022-09-13T12:00:00.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T01:09:30.152Z image: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1561758033-d89a9ad46330?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop --- # Dunkin’ and Comcast Business Team Up to Host National Esports Tournament in Support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month **TL;DR:** Dunkin' and Comcast Business are hosting a national esports tournament to support Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The tournament is part of Dunkin's Connecting Joy program, which brings joy to patients at children's hospitals through virtual programming, including video gaming. *originally published in Franchising.com on 2022-09-13. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20220913_dunkin_and_comcast_business_team_up_to_host_national_esports_tournament_in_.html).* ## Story Gamers and patients alike can sign-up for the tournament on Nerd Street’s tournaments page. Pediatric patients often face loneliness and the feeling of isolation from their peers, family, and friends due to long-term and overnight hospitalizations. Launched in 2021, the Dunkin’ Connecting Joy program brings joy to patients at children’s hospitals through the power of virtual programming, including video gaming, that provides an outlet for them to work on cognitive skills, gain a sense of mastery and control, and offer positive distractions that help them better cope with hospitalization. Gaming has shown to be a critical tool in improving a child’s hospital experience and overall healing process. “Hospital stays can be a stressful experience for kids and teens, so we want this tournament to give them a way to express themselves, connect with kids going through similar challenges, and simply have fun. The power of play and activities like gaming are invaluable for patients and have such a positive impact on their mental and physical health,” said April McGonnigal, Director of the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation. For those looking to spectate and follow the action, the tournament will be live-streamed on Nerd Street’s Twitch Channel at twitch.tv/nerdstreet. Viewers can tune in for live updates on the leaderboard, gamers’ streams, and an in-depth story on the Dunkin’ Connecting Joy program and how it has impacted patient lives. All children’s hospitals across the country are invited to participate in this one-of-a-kind virtual tournament which brings the power of gaming directly to patients. Two of the Dunkin’ Connecting Joy partner hospitals, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa, FL, and Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital in New Haven, CT, also participated in a pre-tournament bootcamp on August 30th, where representatives from Nerd Street and professional Esports gamers visited each hospital and teach patients tips and tricks of the game. In addition to supporting the tournament, Comcast Business donated gaming “GO Karts” to each hospital to aid in the continued play after the bootcamp. The “GO Karts” are built specifically for hospitals and consist of portable video game kiosks that provide patients who may be unable to leave their hospital beds with an opportunity to play and compete. The Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation, the charitable foundation supported by Dunkin’, provides the simple joys of childhood to kids battling hunger or illness. The Foundation partners with food banks, children’s hospitals and nonprofit organizations to fund joyful environments and joyful experiences for kids when they need it most. Since 2006, the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation has granted more than $40 million to hundreds of national and local charities across the country thanks to the generosity of its franchisees, guests, vendor partners and employees. Founded in 1950, Dunkin' is America's favorite all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin' is a market leader in the hot regular/decaf/flavored coffee, iced regular/decaf/flavored coffee, donut, bagel and muffin categories. Dunkin' has earned a No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category for 16 years running. The company has more than 12,600 restaurants in 40 countries worldwide. Dunkin' is part of the Inspire Brands family of restaurants. For more information, visit www. DunkinDonuts.com. Comcast Business offers a suite of Connectivity, Communications, Networking, Cybersecurity, Wireless, and Managed Solutions to help organizations of different sizes prepare for what’s next. Powered by the nation’s largest Gig-speed broadband network, and backed by 24/7 customer support, Comcast Business is the nation’s largest cable provider to small and mid-size businesses and one of the leading service providers to the Enterprise market. Comcast Business has been consistently recognized by industry analysts and associations as a leader and innovator, and one of the fastest growing providers of Ethernet services. ## Entities - Franchising.com (publication) - Restaurants (sector) - Dunkin' Brands (company) - Inspire Brands (company) - Comcast (company) - childhood cancer awareness (topic) - Inspire Brands acquisition of Dunkin' Brands (deal) - esports tournament (topic) - virtual programming (topic) - gaming for good (topic) --- Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20220913_dunkin_and_comcast_business_team_up_to_host_national_esports_tournament_in_.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/241c80a1-af90-4fb4-a372-2976b585cd48).