Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama will donate his $1.4 million 2009 Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charities, the White House announced Thursday.
The organizations receiving the money "do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need," Obama said in a statement. "I'm proud to support their work."
The list of charities includes:
- $250,000 to Fisher House, a group that helps provide housing for families of patients receiving medical care at military and Veterans Affairs medical centers;
- $200,000 for the Clinton-Bush Haiti fund, which supports relief efforts in the earthquake-ravaged nation;
- $125,000 for the College Summit, which helps prepare students for college;
- $125,000 for the United Negro College Fund, which helps more than 60,000 students attend college annually;
- $125,000 to the Posse Foundation, which awards four-year full-tuition scholarships to students who, according to the White House, "may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes";
- $125,000 to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which has awarded scholarships to over 90,000 students over a 34-year history;
- $125,000 to the Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation, which supports higher education opportunities for students from Appalachia;
- $125,000 to the American Indian College Fund, which provides over 6,000 scholarships annually to Native American students;
- $100,000 to AfriCare, which supports programs primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa dealing with health, food, and water resource development; and
- $100,000 to the Central Asia Institute, which backs education and literacy efforts for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Obama was awarded the Nobel prize for "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Obama said he viewed the decision less as a recognition of his own accomplishments and more as "a call to action."
The president accepted the prize in a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, in December.
The decision caught most observers by surprise. Obama had not been mentioned as one of the front-runners for the prestigious award.
The last sitting U.S. president to win the peace prize was Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The other was Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Jimmy Carter had been out of office for more than two decades when he won in 2002.
crawl back under your rocks ... you're BOR-ing.
@Dominican mama 4 Obama March 11th, 2010 4:07 pm ET
"I have never, ever, heard the level of crap from having one of our very own Presidents win the Nobel Peace Prize..."
___________________
No, George Bush didn't win the Nobel Prize, but were you DEAF when all the crap was being dished out by liberals over the eight years he was in office?
Go back to the Domincan Republic.......
None of you haters will ever get the Nobel Peace Prize Award. Eat your hearts out and cry me a river. I guess you haters wanted the money donated to the tea baggers, or the kkk. Thank you Mr. President, Americans are proud of you and the job you are doing.
Let's
Unite
Not
Create
Hate
Mark-
There's no question of tax avoidance here - the Internal Revenue code excludes scholarships and prizes such as the Nobel from gross income. Every American who has received a Nobel gets the money tax-free.
First of all bush was to dumb to win anything,second thing the repugs are blocking him from closing guantanamo,and third the money will help a lot of veterans and their families,which would not need it if bush abd cheney had attacked the people that had struck us instead of going for the oil in Iraq.The president did a good deed,he spread the wealth around.
Let us pray for those in authority....and those it spew hate ...is only hurting themselves ...it takes a lot of energy to hate as some of you bloggers.
Quit hating on the President. He gave the money to a very diverse group of GREAT non-profits. You GOP AND TEA PARTY sheep are just angry that no one in your party deserves to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Where where you guys the past 8 years when we were getting into this debt and health care reform. Making the rich, richer!!!
thats a good thing....
It's amazing how ignorant people can be. I bet half the people complaining voted for former President Bush too! Look at the bigger picture. He trying to clean up this mess of of this world we live in. One step at a time. Change is coming, and I have faith in him. Go & educate yourself first. He is not the first President to give money to the United Negro college fund. With that said bottom line you can never satisfy people!
Bravo Mr. President!
Barack Obama, I simly love you. Enough said.
I get to say it again, Mr. President, I SIMPLY LOVE YOU.
I LOVE YOU BARACK OBAMA!!! 🙂
He's a good President and I don't give a hoot what you foaming-at-the-mouth neo-cons think. I predict that 10 or 15 years from now history will be showing him to be one of our greatest leaders.
Obama to give Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charities
Republicans will find a reason to bitterly criticize Obama even for this.
@ Monster Zero – "Good for him, I could sure use some of that money or a JOB would even be better!"
Here's an idea. Instead of spending your time typing whiney, bitter comments on this site why don't you spend your time LOOKING for a job!
Some you people need to chill. The man can do whatever he pleases with HIS money!
Please expalin (you Bush bashers) what does Bush have to do with this? So you are telling me you know the heart of Bush so much you can make such a ridiculous statement like that?
Can't you just applaud Obama without bashing anybody? No? I really didn't think so!
@ Sniffit, Bush did not win because of war, right? We are still at war right? AND increasing in Afghanistan, right?
Look, itis right simple, The Nobel committee awarded THEIR award THEIR way. We didn't get a vote! Keep in mind he was nominated 1 or 2 weeks into his term. That tells me he won based not on accomplishment but promise! IMHO, he won because he is not Bush! BUT somebody else's award, somebody else's rules to award! End of story!
What a beautiful man. God Bless President Obama.
Jonathan Reese....
The Actual word NEGRO has never been derogatory.
The other "N" word is considered hateful and rude.
Your trying to pervert things.
It is so nice to have a President that shows real compassion for others. Thank you President Obama for being a leader I can be proud of.
He should have donated the money to the unemployment fund for all those unemployed people he has done far too little to help.
Bravo to Mr. Obama to doing the right thing with the money he received for a prize he didn't deserve. It almost equals out.
He donated. Period. Quit judging. What have you all done to better mankind???? Enough said...
to "Kevin in Ohio" :
The people to whom you've responded here have more common sense & dignity than you will have in a lifetime....your right wing rants are deplorable !!
Another unfathomable display of generosity, compassion and class. How many of you Obama-haters would donate $1.4 million (tax free)to charity? If President Obama weren't elected President and McCain/Palin was elected, we all would be wishing that the mountains would fall on us because it would be the final straw in the implosion of America. I wonder what's in the hearts and minds of people when they hate the person trying to clean up America's mess more than the one who created it? I wonder.