Cable Hope Fund Backs Wildfire Relief in Calif.

Cable-Backed Foundation Donates $20,000 To Food Bank, Disaster Coalition

-- Multichannel News, 1/28/2008 10:36:00 AM

The Cable Hope Fund, the non-profit foundation created to provide cable industry support for relief to victims of natural disasters, has donated $20,000 to the San Diego Food Bank and Santa Clarita Valley Disaster Coalition to aid those affected by the fall 2007 wildfires in southern California. 

The donations were made possible by contributions from cable industry companies, organizations, and individuals wishing to provide support to the local communities affected by the devastation, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said. 

Two $10,000 grants were awarded to charitable organizations that have aimed local relief efforts to hardest hit areas. One grant was to the San Diego Food Bank, an organization providing food to people in need. The Santa Clarita Valley Disaster Coalition, the other grant recipient, is a non-profit, all volunteer coalition of local residents, businesses, community leaders and organizations that collects and dispenses funds to area residents who have suffered loss as a result of a natural disaster or community-wide emergency.

David Pierce, the NCTA vice president who is executive director of the Cable Hope Fund, said in a release: "While news of the disastrous wildfires has receded from the headlines, there are many families in southern California still coping with the effects of the wildfires. The Santa Clarita Valley Disaster Coalition and San Diego Food Bank are doing a great job of reaching out to the families and helping to meet their needs.  We want to thank individuals throughout the cable industry for their generous contributions and for their commitment to local communities."

The NCTA-administered Cable Hope Fund 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.