Not On Our Watch, Just Launched by Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Cheadle and Weintraub, Donates $2.75 Million to International Rescue Committee for Darfur Relief

Not On Our Watch, Just Launched by Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Cheadle and Weintraub, Donates $2.75 Million to International Rescue Committee for Darfur Relief

CHICAGO, June 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The new organization Not On Our Watch, founded by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub, announced a donation today of $2.75 million to the International Rescue Committee to support the group's humanitarian aid programs in the Darfur region.

"The International Rescue Committee is at the forefront of providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance in Darfur," says Clooney, who visited IRC programs in Sudan and Chad last year.

Clooney was speaking in Chicago today, where Not On Our Watch announced the gift ahead of a benefit premiere of Ocean's Thirteen. The fundraiser caps a series of benefits, hosted by Warner Brothers Studios, Vanity Fair and CineVegas, aimed at raising funds for Darfur relief efforts.

"The Darfur crisis is not going away and hundreds of thousands of people continue to rely on our aid programs for survival," says George Rupp, president of the IRC. "These funds will help the IRC to treat the sick, provide clean water, prevent outbreaks of disease, deliver emergency shelter supplies, expand healing and learning programs for children and increase protection for the most vulnerable."

Not On Our Watch was launched last month and aims to use the influence and reach of prominent artists to spotlight underreported violent conflicts and atrocities around the world and raise funding for needed humanitarian assistance.

"Celebrities such as these have a unique ability to turn the world's attention to forsaken emergencies, access those who can effect change and generate significant resources to address critical humanitarian needs," says Rupp. "We are grateful for their dedication and goodwill and are committed to using the funding to aid some of the world's most desperate people."

For more information visit http://www.theirc.org/ and http://www.notonourwatchproject.org/

Among the first to respond and the last to leave, the International Rescue Committee has been a global leader in humanitarian relief for refugees and victims of conflict for 75 years. The organization also provides a fresh start for refugees arriving in the United States.

Source: International Rescue Committee

CONTACT: Melissa Winkler, +1-646-734-0305, or Edward Bligh,
+1-212-551-3114, both of the International Rescue Committee

Web site:

http://www.theirc.org/
http://www.notonourwatchproject.org/

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