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Charity tournament raises $300,000 for Mending Kinds International, which subsidizes corrective surgery for children.Jodie Foster was happy to pick up a hand of cards for Mel Gibson.
Foster, who's played poker ever since "I did a movie called Maverick with Mel," was gambling for a cause Saturday night at the London Hotel in West Hollywood: A celebrity poker tournament that raised $300,000 for Mending Kids International. “Last time I played I got beaten pretty badly," she said, "so I am feeling a little revenge.”
Gibson and Foster joined Robert Downey, Jr., Sean Penn, and Gene Simmons at the event for the organization, which subsidizes critical surgeries for children around the world like correcting congenital heart defects, orthopedic abnormalities, severe scoliosis, and cranial facial deformities.
American Idol winner Lee Dewyze, The Commodores, Dominic Scott Kay and Nia Peeples also performed at the fundraiser, where guests paid $500 to play poker with the starry guest list. The bash also featured much of the cast of ABC's Revenge -- Madeleine Stowe, Emily VanCamp, Joshua Bowman, Gabriel Mann, Connor Paolo, Ashley Madekwe, Nick Weshler, Margarita Levieva and Barry Sloane were on hand.
Gibson, whose son Will Gibson is on the Mending Kids board of directors, told THR he treasured a trip he and two girls helped by the organization took last week to the American Girl store at The Grove.
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“It was great, because these two girls are just getting to be that age where they are starting to become women, right? And they both had terrible facial deformities and they've been repaired and they are beautiful," Gibson said. "I told them, ‘How beautiful you are.’"
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