As the entire online gambling industry prepares to party up at various networking conventions and awards ceremonies next week in London, a pioneer in the space has issued a call to arms to help fund Haiti Earthquake Relief.
"It's a disaster in Haiti," stated Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre on his online gambling tablog CalvinAyre.com. "I know they've had a tough go from Mother Nature recently, what with the hurricane and now this earthquake, but I cannot help but be disgusted with the ruling elite that have driven this country down like this while, no doubt, filling their own pockets. That being said, the innocents are, as always, the ones paying a horrendous price for this elite thievery and I think the global online gaming community has a duty to do something. I have asked my Foundation to send £10,000 to U.K. based Oxfam.org.uk to aid in their Haiti relief efforts. But that's not all. I want to personally challenge the rest of the online gaming industry to contribute to Oxfam's Haiti relief efforts. My private foundation will match all donations made to Oxfam by an online gaming person totaling up to $1 million dollars. In a situation like this, each of us has a duty to help. Let's do it!"
Take Calvin Ayre up on his offer and make your contribution double the money going to Help Fund Haiti Earthquake Relief.
Ayre the philanthropist is far from alone in putting his money and clout behind the effort to help fund Haiti Earthquake Relief. Grammy winning musician Wyclef Jean's charity Yele Haiti has already raised more than $2 million dollars thru a grass roots SMS text drive in coordination with the fundraising division of mobile marketing company Red Fish Media called “Give on the Go”.
Yele Haiti was founded in 2005 with the mission to create small-scale, manageable and replicable projects to contribute to Haiti’s long-term progress. The media accused Yele Haiti of not distributing enough money to the Haitian people and using the proceeds to line the pockets of people close to the charity include Wyclef. In our opinion, the expenses in question are legitimate and as the charity scales up via donations more and more of the funds will get to the Haitian people.
In response, Wyclef posted a response on YouTube.com to the allegations that Yele Haiti hasn’t properly administered funds. “I’ve always been committed to the people of Haiti. I live in that country, I’m Haitian. This is where I come from.”
Click here to donate to Yele Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts.
