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