Veterans, students, and families gathered at our Diamond Bar campus for an afternoon of mental health awareness, hands-on PC building, and the kind of conversations that matter.
This past Saturday, the Newegg Gamer Zone filled with the sounds you'd expect – controllers clicking, friendly rivalry, the hum of PCs running – and some you might not. Stories of loss. Stories of survival. Open conversations about mental health that, in too many circles, still go unspoken.
Newegg partnered with the Sabot Foundation, a veterans-focused nonprofit, and the C_Quebe Suicide Awareness Foundation to host a community gathering centered on suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and the role gaming plays in bringing people together. Students from local schools, parents, veterans, and community advocates spent the day mingling, listening, and learning side by side.
The afternoon's most powerful moments came during talks from two speakers who know the weight of this conversation personally. Susan, representing the C_Quebe Foundation, shared the story of her son, who died by suicide. She walked the room through the warning signs she has learned to recognize – shifts in mood, withdrawal, changes in behavior that can be easy to miss – and made the case for keeping the door open to honest conversation, especially with the young people in our lives. Jon followed with a focus on the veteran community, naming recent losses and asking the room to consider what each of us can do to check in on the people we serve alongside and live next to. Both spoke, not from a script, but from experience.
Lunch brought the day back to its community roots. Bad Guys Pizza rolled in with a full mobile pizza oven, baking pies fresh in the lot while attendees swapped stories over slices. From there, Newegg's team led an education segment walking the group through the anatomy of a PC – what each component does, how the parts fit and talk to one another – and invited volunteers up to help piece together a core build. The day closed the way many gaming days do: free play, more mingling, and the easy kind of connection that comes when people share a screen and a passion.
Diamond Bar Council Member Dr. Chia Yu Teng attended in support, alongside representatives from several other community and mental health organizations.
For Newegg, the day reflected something the gaming community has known for a long time: a controller, a keyboard, a Discord server, or a shared bench at a LAN can be the start of a friendship – and sometimes, the start of a conversation that changes a life. Gaming gives people a place to belong. When the gaming community shows up for mental health, it shows up for everyone.
Newegg thanks the Sabot Foundation, the C_Quebe Foundation, the speakers who shared their stories, and every attendee who made the day what it was.
If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7. Call or text 988.