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Ante Up for Africa Charity Poker Event Donates $600,000 to 3 Darfur Charity Groups

Ante Up for Africa released their official results from its world series of poker charity event on August 10th, 2009 and it appears that the charity group will be giving $600,000 to three Darfur-related non-profit organizations. Actor Don Cheadle, who started Ante Up for Africa with poker pros Annie Duke and Norman Epstein said that the crisis in Darfur is not yet over and they are very happy to all who participated in Ante Up for Africa to make these cash donations possible and they hope that more people will join them in the future.

A lot of Hollywood, sports and poker stars joined the $5K buy-in cost event including Ben Affleck, Sarah Silverman, Matt Damon, Mike Tyson, Jason Alexander, Montel Williams, Charles Barkley and others. In the end, it was poker pro Alex Bolotin who outwitted 136 other participants to take home the title.

ESPN showed its coverage of the event on August 11th, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. Of the $600,000 raised by the charity event, half will be given to the Darfur Peace and Development Organization, a Darfur-led non-profit organization that gives aid to those in need in the refugee camps and in Darfur.

The monetary donation will allow the group to continue the Women's facility in the Kassab refugee camp in North Darfur and give money to the construction of the El Fasher High School for teens affected by the war. A $150,000 donation will also be given to the Refugees International, a group that supports lifesaving assistance and protection for refugees.

Refugees International has allocated the money to conduct assessment missions in South Sudan. Another $150,000 donation will also be made to the Enough Project at the Center for American Progress, which is working to construct a permanent constituency to prevent crimes and genocide against humanity in Darfur. Duke said that when they started Ante Up for Africa, they had no idea that a lot of people would respond.

08/20/2009, Thursday
Sherry Barlow

Ante Up for Africa Charity Poker Event Donates $600,000 to 3 Darfur Charity Groups

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