Friday, January 2, 2015

Support Typhoon Haiyan relief in the Philippines


We have all been moved by the distressing images coming out of the Philippines in recent days. Millions of people have been affected and thousands of people (perhaps 10,000) are feared lost.

As we have done at other times of global disaster, we are mobilising the poker community by launching a global online appeal in support of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Effective immediately, our players are able to donate to the international disaster relief efforts through the PokerStars client, using funds held in their player accounts. Players on Full Tilt Poker will be able to do the same in a matter of days.

philippines_typhoon_OCHA.JPG

Credit: OCHA

By creating dummy tournaments into which players register and pay their entry fee, which is then paid to charity instead of a prize pool, we are able to provide a quick and easy way for our customers to make a donation to the appeal. In addition, players can make real money transfers from their online wallet to a specially created "Typhoon Fund", where every cent is passed on to the appropriate charity.

philippines_typhoon_3OCHA.JPG

Credit: OCHA

For the first time, we will be activating a new partnership formed earlier this year with CARE International, a leading humanitarian organisation that responds to large scale natural disasters by delivering emergency aid where it's needed most. This partnership means we already have arrangements in place to ensure we can provide immediate financial assistance in the event of a large scale global catastrophe.

Over the coming days we will be communicating with our players and to the wider poker community encouraging then to give generously. Through Helping Hands, the Rational Group's corporate giving programme, we will be matching dollar for dollar every donation made by our players via the arrangements outlined above.

Anyone without a PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker account wishing to make a donation to our appeal may do so at our Philippines Appeal page.

Thank you for reading, and please help if you can.

Sue Hammett is the Head of Corporate Giving for The Rational Group


Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Corporate Blog]

No comments:

Post a Comment