Poker Superstars
Phil Hellmuth
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Jerry Yang Puts His Winnings to Use |
 Jerry Yang might not have been the true poker lover's favorite pick to win the World Series of Poker main event last year: he's probably the greenest champ we've ever had, seemingly graced by the forces he kept calling on to win despite his neophyte status. As much as some players might begrudge his win, you can't really fault the guy for what he's been doing with the money so far: using it to feed and support kids in need.
This Saturday, for instance, Yang is scheduled to appear with "10 truckloads" of foo, toys and other household products to families in need in the Long Beach, California. He's teamed up with the 'Feed the Children' organization for the distribution, which has cost him $72,000 of his $8.6+ million prize. It is estimated that those products will help feed more than 4,000 families.
“It’s going to be a great honor and a great privilege to be walking hand in hand with them and Feed the Children. I just can’t wait,” said Yang.
If you're wondering if this is all just PR that comes from the responsbility of winning such a huge prize, think again. Yang's been giving to the "Feed the Children" organization for years: even before his big poker win.
He said, “In about 1991 or 1992, I saw Feed the Children on TV. I was only a graduate student then. I didn’t have much money, but I sent $30 to Larry Jones and I wrote a note to him and said ‘I’m only a graduate student, I don’t have a lot of money, but this is all I can afford at this time. Hopefully, in the future, I can help for more. He was very gracious and he wrote back to me. It said, ‘Jerry, it is because of people like you that we can help some of the poorest kids in America.’ So, that has stuck in my mind all of these years.”
In addition to Feed the Children, Yang has also given more than $1 million away so far, including checks to Make a Wish foundation and the Ronald McDonald house, as well as his church and family members in Laos.
“I know what it’s like to be poor. I remember that, as a young boy, I would try to be the first in to get ahold of that pig’s bladder to blow into a soccer ball and play with my buddies. My life has changed tremendously. I won more than $8 million. I don’t need all of that $8 million,” Yang says. “Even after taxes, I have enough to help my family. But at the same time, I want be able to give something back to the community, and there are a lot of people out there that need more than me. To be able to give back, it’s actually a great honor and a great privilege.”
So while you might have gotten a little irritated watching him on TV, you can't really call the guy out for not living up to his word and doing something more than just enter more poker tournaments.
March 27, 2008 |
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