MGM MGM Resorts International

BILOXI, Miss., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MGM MIRAGE (NYSE:MGM) has teamed with the American Red Cross in a creative partnership to help provide cash relief to Mississippi residents whose lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. MGM MIRAGE is providing supplemental employment to 125 employees of its Beau Rivage Resort and Casino for this pilot effort to disburse relief funds at American Red Cross service support sites in Gulf Coast neighborhoods. Trained in casework and check dispersal by the American Red Cross, MGM MIRAGE will pay these staffers on an hourly basis in addition to the regular full pay and benefits they are currently receiving as Beau Rivage employees. The service support sites provide monetary assistance to residents in the affected areas. This complements ongoing shelter, mass feeding, door-to-door community first aid and counseling services provided by Red Cross workers throughout the affected area. The Red Cross service support sites open at 9 a.m. daily, Central Daylight Time, and include: United Artists Biloxi 10 Theater, 2681 CT Switzer Drive, Biloxi Future Pipe Industries, 12450 Glascock Drive, Gulfport Isaiah Fredricks Community Center, 3312 Martin Luther King Blvd., Gulfport Tent at intersection of Carol and Dunbar Sts., Bay St. Louis St. Paul United Methodist Church, 3724 Davis Street, Moss Point Mississippi Mall, 1310 South Haugh, Picayune East Jackson Co. Service Complex, 5343 Jefferson Street, Moss Point As the American Red Cross transitions into a recovery mode to assist impacted families, the workers are needed to staff its service support sites. "The partnership with Beau Rivage is really an innovative use of local resources inside the affected community," says Ron Speakes, the Director of Disaster Operations for the American Red Cross in the MS Gulf Coast region, who is one of 1,800 national Red Cross volunteers helping in coastal Mississippi. "The next critical need of hurricane victims who are ready to begin rebuilding their lives is cash assistance, and by combining Beau Rivage's manpower with the cash resources of the American Red Cross, we will be able to help a lot of people quickly," said Jon Corchis, interim President and Chief Operating Officer of Beau Rivage. "The most effective response is through collaboration with partner agencies and businesses," explains Oscar Barnes, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross. "We are proud of the relationship American Red Cross has with MGM MIRAGE. They are helping us multiply our efforts and reach more people than we could before." For more information about cash assistance offered by the Red Cross, contact the Red Cross at 1-800-975-7585 or http://www.redcross.org/. The Beau Rivage Employee Assistance Center remains open seven days a week, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Services available on site include: * Employee paycheck distribution. Employees will be provided full pay and benefits through Dec. 6, 2005. * Wachovia Bank (formerly South Trust Bank) representatives on site to help employees open a bank account and sign up for direct deposit of their paychecks * Internet access for FEMA and Red Cross aid applications * FEMA representative on site * Job opportunity assistance * Clothing, basic necessities and food for those in need * 401K plan administrators on site to discuss 401K accounts * Mississippi Department of Health for medical assistance, including free tetanus shots * Crisis counseling services Paychecks are being shipped overnight to those who cannot pick them up in person and have provided their contact information to the 24-hour MGM MIRAGE Call Center at 866-368-7399. Employees are encouraged to contact the Call Center. An online check-in system is available at a special website established for Beau Rivage employees at http://www.beaurivage.com/ MGM MIRAGE has created a special recovery fund with a $1 million seed donation through the company's employee-funded Voice Foundation. The company also will match, without limit, dollar-for-dollar, every employee donation made to this recovery fund by its 70,000-member workforce through the end of the year. These funds will be devoted to Beau Rivage employees and their families to aid in the efforts directed at their long-term recovery needs. Campaigns to raise funds were launched Sept. 8 at MGM MIRAGE's 23 other properties nationwide. Plans for recovery and rebuilding Beau Rivage are underway, with the company committing to rebuild the resort quickly, and to utilize employees in the recovery. Information about MGM MIRAGE's plan to rebuild its Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi is available to the news media and general public at http://www.mgmmirage.com/ under the "Press Releases" heading. MGM MIRAGE (NYSE:MGM), one of the world's leading and most respected hotel and gaming companies, owns and operates 24 properties located in Nevada, Mississippi and Michigan, and has investments in four other properties in Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois and the United Kingdom. MGM MIRAGE has also announced plans to develop Project CityCenter, a multi-billion dollar mixed-use urban development project in the heart of Las Vegas, and has a 50 percent interest in MGM Grand Macau, a development project in Macau S.A.R. MGM MIRAGE supports responsible gaming and has implemented the American Gaming Association's Code of Conduct for Responsible Gaming at its properties. MGM MIRAGE also has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for its industry-leading Diversity Initiative and its community philanthropy programs. For more information about MGM MIRAGE, please visit the company's website at http://www.mgmmirage.com/. DATASOURCE: MGM MIRAGE CONTACT: Alan Feldman, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs of MGM MIRAGE, +1-702-891-7147 Web site: http://www.beaurivage.com/ Web site: http://www.www.redcross.org/ Web site: http://www.mgmmirage.com/

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