Cable Hope Fund Chips in $280,000 to New Orleans Recovery
Donations Collected at 2008 Cable Show Dolled Out To Local Orgs
By Larry Barrett -- Multichannel News, 9/11/2008 8:44:00 AM
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association Thursday announced that its Cable Hope Fund has dispersed more than $280,000 donated by cable companies, organizations and individuals to help rebuild portions of New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
The funds, which were collected during The Cable Show ’08 in New Orleans in May, were given to the following organizations:
-- Hands On New Orleans, an organization that was one of the partners for the many school-related projects under CableCares, received $100,000 to help perpetuate future volunteer rebuilding activities.
-- Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans, an organization that manages diverse philanthropic activities, will also receive a $100,000 grant.
-- The Greater New Orleans Foundation was bestowed with an $85,000 grant that will be channeled directly to the foundation’s “Rebuild New Orleans Fund” to meet immediate housing needs in the community and bolster priority areas it has identified, including housing, workforce development and education.
“The Cable Show and our hundreds of cable volunteers may have departed New Orleans, but we can still contribute to the rebuilding of this great city,” David Pierce, executive director of the Cable Hope Fund, said in a statement. “We're enormously thankful for this industry-wide effort, which we believe has had a lasting impact on New Orleans.”
As part of the Cable Show '08, the CableCares initiative raised cash, equipment, and in-kind contributions valued at more than $900,000 for hurricane recovery in greater New Orleans. This community service project assisted the ongoing recovery efforts with more than 60 cable industry companies, organizations, and associations contributing resources and volunteers to CableCares projects.
From 2005 through 2006, the Cable Hope Fund had already aggregated many cable industry contributions and conveyed an additional $825,000 in cash grants to charitable and philanthropic organizations, and individual victims of the 2005 hurricanes, throughout the Gulf Coast Region.
The Cable Hope Fund, administered by the NCTA, was originally established in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to collect and funnel cable industry financial assistance to hurricane victims in the Gulf Coast Region. The Fund’s mission is to assist with relief efforts for individuals and families affected by natural disasters, with particular emphasis on cable employees, and to assist with the longer-term rebuilding of the communities affected.
