WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Cable Hope Fund has now officially donated more than $280,000 collected during The Cable Show ’08 CableCares initiative to community rebuilding organizations in the New Orleans area. The donations were made possible by contributions from cable industry companies, organizations, and individuals in support of the local communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. 

Grants have been awarded to the following community organizations that are committed to rebuilding the New Orleans area:

• $100,000 -- Hands On New Orleans.  This organization was one of the partners for the many school-related projects under CableCares.  This grant will help perpetuate further volunteer rebuilding activities.
• $100,000 -- Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans.  This grant to VOA, an organization that manages diverse activities, will help it continue its Hurricane Katrina rebuilding activities with local volunteers.
• $85,000 -- Greater New Orleans Foundation.  This grant will be channeled directly to the Foundation’s “Rebuild New Orleans Fund,” established just after Katrina for long-term rebuilding.  This Fund works to meet immediate 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,” said David Pierce, Executive Director of the Cable Hope Fund.  “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 National Cable & Telecommunications Association (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.

# # #