Paintball battle in Lakeville raises money for Children's Hospitals

Matt Ames has a five-year plan to make a million memories for people by 2020.

As the owner of three Minnesota-based entertainment companies, that usually means paintball battles, group games and mystery-solving challenges.

It also means doing his part to save young lives in Minnesota so more kids have an opportunity to make memories. It's a personal mission for Ames, 31, who was born with a congenital heart defect and received lifesaving treatment as a child.

He's hosting his Seventh Annual Challenge for Children's paintball fundraising event July 19 to raise money for Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

"My goal is create memories," he said. "I spend too much time trying to figure out, 'How do I make you feel something?'"

Ames owns MN Pro Paintball, a paintball park and supply store; Knocker Squad, a bubble soccer company that provides wearable inflatable balls that people run around in; and escape rooms in Minnesota and Milwaukee, where participants spend an hour trying to solve a mystery while locked in a room full of clues.

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is special to Ames. It's where he was initially treated for his heart condition and still sees doctors today.

The main event at the fundraiser will be an 800-person paintball battle with the theme "Blood Drone Rising" at Ames' MN Pro Paintball fields in Lakeville.

Two teams of about 400 people will be led by professional paintball player Colt Roberts and semi-professional player Bea Paxson. The two sides will compete not only by tagging each other with paint, but also tagging drones that fly overhead.

Paxson was part of one of the first all-female professional paintball teams in the sport's history after she started playing in 1999. Her biggest motivation for leading a team in the Challenge for Children's contest is her 2-year-old daughter, Diane.

Like Ames, Diane has a heart condition. For the first few months of her daughter's life, Paxson said her family depended on the Ronald McDonald House and their local children's hospital in Florida.

"If it wasn't for the support that we got, I don't know how we would have gotten through it," she said.

"If I'm there, maybe it will encourage those fellas that are planning on coming to bring their significant others, or their daughters, or nieces … and I can show them the way," Paxson said. "And have that whole gender equality thing happen."

Those who opt not to play paintball will still have plenty to do at the fundraiser, Ames said.

The event will also have a silent auction, dunk tank, beer garden, blood donation center by Memorial Blood Centers, and splatball for kids younger than 12 who can't play in the main paintball game. Lakeville-based Divine Swine Catering will provide food for the event.

All proceeds from this year's fundraiser will go toward a new Simulation Center, which will be built at Children's Hospital of Minneapolis next year.

The Simulation Center will be used to train medical staff by modeling emergency situations. Children's Hospitals already has a simulation center, but it is not at the Minneapolis hospital, reducing its access and usability for staff, said Andrew McIlree, development officer at Foundation for Children's Hospital.

Ames, who has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Children's Hospitals in recent years, has been focused on supporting the Simulation Center since 2013. He hopes to contribute $75,000 to the project this year, including proceeds from the paintball tournament.

Ames said he will continue to expand his fundraising for Children's Hospitals through his three companies.

"It is all about making memories," he said. "So in the years to come, you're going to see Challenge for Children's doing other, non-paintball events."

Janice Bitters is a Twin Cities-based freelance writer.