Park Place donates $300,000 to help laid-off workers

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.

Park Place Entertainment Corp. said it created a charitable foundation to better focus the company's philanthropic activities.

The foundation today made its first donations -- a total of $300,000 that will benefit displaced casino workers in Las Vegas and Reno.

The Park Place Foundation contributed $100,000 to the crisis fund established by the United Way of Las Vegas to aid unemployed or under-employed workers from all of the city's casinos. The foundation gave another $100,000 to a United Way fund established specifically to aid Park Place employees in Las Vegas who have been laid off or whose work hours have been reduced. A third $100,000 contribution is being made to the United Way of Reno to benefit displaced Park Place workers in that community.

The new contributions follow the company's earlier decision to extend approximately $1.8 million in additional health benefits to laid-off workers at its Las Vegas properties. In addition, Park Place funded $1 million in incremental benefits -- over and above what is required by law -- to Park Place employees who were displaced as a result of the sale of the Flamingo Reno.

"The past few months have been difficult ones for our industry, our company and our employees," Chief Executive Thomas Gallagher said. "As we launch the new Park Place Foundation, we felt that it was particularly important to specifically address the needs of our own communities."