Obama donates $1.4 million Nobel Prize money
He’s not giving back the prize, but he is giving away the money.
Six months after receiving the Nobel Prize, President Barack Obama announced he is distributing the prize’s $1.4 million award among 10 charities that work on veterans’ care, disaster relief and education.
The biggest winner, according to a statement from the White House, is Fisher House, a non-profit group that arranges housing for families of combat veterans recovering at VA hospitals. The group will receive $250,000.
“These organizations do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need,” Obama said of all the donations in a statement. “I’m proud to support their work.”
The earthquake recovery effort in Haiti will receive $200,000 through a donation to a long-term recovery fund set up by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. There was no donation to disaster relief efforts in earthquake-rocked Chile.
Six charities will each get donations of $125,000 to fund their efforts to send more students to college on scholarships. The groups extend scholarships to African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and students from the Appalachia region of the U.S.
The remaining $200,000 will be split between AfriCare, a charity working in sub-Saharan Africa and the Central Asia Institute, which builds schools for girls in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Many people were surprised by Obama selection as the 2009 winner, just eight months into his presidency. Some conservatives, like commentator Glenn Beck, called for Obama to decline the prize.