Raise Your Hand for Africa Poker Tournament Raises Awareness for Upcoming Better Hearing Mission to Africa for Hearing-Impaired Children in Need
Minneapolis, March 1, 2011 - Africa's hearing-impaired children were the hands-down winners of the Raise Your Hand for Africa Texas Hold'em Tournament, where stars from the gridiron, poker world, Hollywood and music industry put their cards on the table in February at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.
The event was attended by more than 350 participants and raised awareness for the Starkey Hearing Foundation, dedicated to providing hearing instruments to those in need;and PROS FOR AFRICA, a non-profit relief organization providing basic needs to children of Africa, both support a combined African mission in March.
Walking the red carpet prior to the event and taking a seat at the tables, was presenter and Poker Legend Phil Hellmuth Jr., along with event co-hosts Larry Fitzgerald Jr. (Arizona Cardinals) and Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings), and some of the world's best known pros and celebrity poker players including actors Steve Martin, Kevin Sorbo, Lou Ferrigno and Daniel Romer;music legend Sam Moore;football stars, Visanthe Shiancoe (Minnesota Vikings), Vernon Davis (San Francisco 49ers), Vontae Davis (Miami Dolphins), Gerald McCoy (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Curtis Lofton (Atlanta Falcons), Mark Clayton (St. Louis Rams) and Roy Williams (Cincinnati Bengals);and poker pros Suzie Lederer, Marcel Luske, Liz Lieu and Michelle Lau.
Taking the event's top prize, a 2011 CSM #2 Shelby Mustang, was poker novice Debbie Gostowski (Effingham, Ill.) with Family Care Hearing Center, a strong supporter of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Other final table prizes included iPads and all expenses paid trips to Africa, South America and Mexico as part of Starkey Hearing Foundation missions.
"The Starkey Hearing Foundation's mission is to bring the gift of hearing to those in need," said Bill Austin, Chief Executive Officer of Starkey and Founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
"Our goal is to raise awareness to help the world's hearing impaired, and we thank the football and entertainment communities as well as our event partners for staging this great tournament in support of our upcoming mission to Africa."
"The Raise Your Hand for Africa tournament will help provide hope, help and love to the children of Africa, and make our upcoming mission possible where myself and several other football players are planning to visit Uganda and Rwanda to deliver basic life-saving needs to various communities," said Adrian Peterson.
The Raise Your Hand for Africa event precedes PROS FOR AFRICA's upcoming March mission where more than 25 football stars will bring basic necessities to the people of Africa, and join the Starkey Hearing Foundation on a special hearing mission. The Starkey Hearing Foundation mission to Africa will include visits to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, with the distribution of hearing aids and batteries, custom fittings, audio testing, and counseling on how to care for the devices.
The nationally-syndicated poker show, Heartland Poker Tour, will produce a one-hour special episode highlighting Raise Your Hand for Africa that includes HPT's final table set, on-air commentators Fred Bevill and Chris Hanson, and roving camera crews. This first-of-its-kind special airs nationwide the week of April 11.
About the Starkey Hearing Foundation
The Starkey Hearing Foundation is striving to change the social consciousness of hearing and hearing loss prevention. Hearing loss affects one in 10 Americans, and 63 million children worldwide, yet many do not have access to the hearing devices that can help correct that disability. Each year, the Foundation delivers more than 100,000 hearing aids through hearing missions in countries stretching from the U.S. to Vietnam. Since 2000, the Foundation has supplied nearly 500,000 hearing aids to people in need and is striving to achieve its goal of distributing over one million free hearing aids in this decade. In addition to giving the gift of hearing, the Foundation partners with Best Buy® and the GRAMMY Foundation® to promote "safe hearing" and hearing loss prevention among teens and young people through its national program SoundMatters™. For more information on the Starkey Hearing Foundation, visit www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.
About Starkey®
Starkey Laboratories, Inc. is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn. The company is recognized for its innovative design, development and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. Founded in 1967, Starkey currently employs more than 3,250 people, operates 22 facilities and conducts business in more than 100 markets worldwide. For more information, visit StarkeyPro.com or the Starkey Web Channel on Audiology Online.
