Final Gambit Relief Fund Payments Are Issued

The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies announced today that it has closed the Gambit Relief Fund and will no longer be accepting charitable contributions for employees of its New Orleans-based member paper.The relief fund had raised $135,558 since its creation on Sept. 2, a few days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

AAN issued two earlier relief payments, on Sept. 9 and Oct. 4, for a total of $97,000. In addition, $268 was spent on the fund’s direct expenses. The remaining $38,290 has been divided into 48 checks for $797.71 each and mailed to the Gambit office for distribution.

“We are grateful beyond words for the outpouring of offers and assistance that our employees and our company received as a result of this catastrophe,” Gambit publisher Margo DuBos said in a Nov. 1 statement. “The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, its staff and member papers will always have a special place in our hearts, and for the rest of our lives we will owe them a great debt of gratitude. We could not have come back without them.”

Gambit Weekly resumed publication on Nov. 1 with 22 full-time employees. The majority of those who moved back to the New Orleans area were re-hired, said Gambit administrative director Mark Karcher. “Our hope is to get more former staff members back on board, when we can support that financially, if they are still available.”

AAN also heard directly from several Gambit employees who were extremely grateful for the fund and for the support they had received from their peers. Two former staffers wrote letters, calling the fund “an astounding response” and “a wonderful comfort.”

“In the days after the hurricane, we received dozens of e-mails and phone calls from AAN members asking what we were planning to do to help the folks at Gambit,” said AAN Executive Director Richard Karpel. “In my ten years at AAN, the members have never expressed greater urgency on an issue than they did in this situation. I think it reflects well on our industry that when it mattered most, we were there to help our own.”

The Gambit Fund received donations from 33 organizations, including members, associate members and non-members, as well as more than 240 individual donations in amounts up to $1050. Several papers instituted matching-funds programs for staff donations, including one non-member paper, Portland Mercury.

In addition, AAN received contributions from alt-weekly readers across the country through ads promoting the fund that AAN made available to member papers.

The Gambit Relief Fund was established by AAN within its Alternative Newsweekly Foundation to accept tax-deductible charitable donations. AAN would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Gambit Fund–a complete list appears below. Fifteen individual donors chose to remain anonymous.

Organizations

Alternative Weekly Network
Athens News
Austin Chronicle
Charleston City Paper
Chicago Reader
Cincinnati CityBeat
City Newspaper
Creative Loafing
Folio Weekly
FW Weekly
Georgia Straight
Illinois Times
Independent Weekly
Index Newspapers LLC
Isthmus
K.V. Thornton and Associates
Memphis Flyer
Mountain Xpress
New Times Newspapers
News & Review
Philadelphia City Paper
Pre1 Software
Salt Lake City Weekly
San Francisco Bay Guardian
San Luis Obispo New Times
Santa Maria Sun
Seven Days
Topaz Design
Torosian Foundation
Tucson Weekly
Village Voice Media
Washington City Paper
Willamette Week

Individuals

Ellis Alvarez
A.D. Anderson
Martha Anderson
Bob Ansheles
Kathy Bailey
Emily Balawejder
Linda Baldwin
Rick Barrs
Mark Bartel
Kurtis Barton
Monty Basile
Jessica Belucci
Knute Berger
Lance Besore
Amy Biegelsen
Margaret Bond
Steve Boughton
Kristi N. Bourland
John Branston
Russell A. Breiter
Christine Brennan
David Brennan
Mark A. Bridgeford
Jeffrey W. Bryan
Michana Buchman
Stephen Buel
Judy Bullington
Philipp Busse
Julie Butler
Maria M. Cadaxa
Stacy Calabrese
Patricia Calhoun
Patrick Carrigan
Jennifer Cederholm
Kenneth Childs
Elaine Cicora
Elizabeth Cook
Roxanne Cooper
Todd Crenshaw
Cathleen Criswell
Lisa M. Cunningham
Thomas Dehlinger
Albert Del Favero
Pamela Denney
Kelli Dewitt
Nick DiCarlo
Marlene Dryden
Gillian Dundas
Ken Edelstein
Marc Eisen
Kim Engler
Jack Erickson
Mary Erickson
Conni Ersland
Seth Ewald
Mary Farmer
Steve Fennessy
Sarah Fenske
Courtney Ferguson
Chris Ferrell
Michael Finger
Tom Finkel
Whitney Fitzpatrick
Linda Falkenstein
Stuart Folb
Warren Ford
Donald Forst
H. Joan Foster
Diana Fraser
Nina Friedman
Josh Fromson
Angela Garbes
Mary Ellen Garrigue
Kathryn Gerome
Allison Gill
Cris Glaser
Jane R. Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jennifer Gonnerman
Gerard Goroski
Dave Grauert
Marty Griswold
Denise Grollmus
Kathryn Guerke
Jill Guidi
Curtis H. Gwaltney
Ashley Hammond
Ruth Hammond
Stephanie Hansen
Nancy Hartunian
Rob Harvilla
Jill Heishman
Heather Hill
Tenaya Hills
Tonya Eve Hise
Kevin Hoffman
Janet Hopf
Chad Hopper
Amy Horn
Joel Hornbostel
Elwyn Hudson
William Steven Humphrey
Chris Hutchins
Ben Isaacson
Jeff Itoh
Molly Jackson Taylor
Robert James
C. J. Janovy
Amy Jenniges
Rachael Karabin
Richard Karpel
Justin Kendall
Georgianne Kilburn
Leslee Kirk
Jered Klaus
Emily Klutho
Michael Kracht
Anna Kruse
Ramon Larkin
Troy Larkin
Michele Laudig
Maureen Laux
Michele Laven
Stephen Lemmons
David Levy
Ian Lowe
Alice Lucan
Bill Lueders
David Martin
Carla Mathis
David McBrayer
Maria Elena McCoy
Antoinette McCracken
Megan McHale
Ellen Meany
Michael Mechanic
John Mecklin
David R. Meehan
Richard Meeker
Steven J. Miller
Joan Mistur
Susan and Bruce Mitchell
Randall N. Molton
Douglas Monroe
Bryan Moreno
Kenneth Neill
Erik N. Nelson
Ed Newton
Kirk Nielsen
Vince O’Hern
Alice Overbey
June W. Overgaard
Julia Peterson
Noel Popko
Dean Purvis
Barbara Quisenberry
Mary Helen Randall
Tim Redmond
Scott Renshaw
Dean Robbins
Marjorie Robinson-Jeter
Jen Rockstad
Jennifer Rockstad
Paul Rubin
Francine Russo
Patricia P. Ruth
Marilyn Sadler
Nicholas Saeger
Laurie Saito
Eli Sanders
Justin Sanders
Dan Savage
Molly Savory
Toni Schlesinger
Kristy Schmalzer
Traci Schneider
David Schneiderman
Peter Scholtes
Michael Seely
David Segal
Kevin Michael Shurtluff
Amy Silverman
Debra Silvestrin
Doug Simmons
Jerad Sloan
Rebecca Sloan
Becky Smith
Shirley G. Smith
Scott Spear
Kathy St. Charles
Julianne Stein
Patrice Steinhart
Joann Stielstra
Ken Stocker
Eliza Strickland
Will Swaim
Erica Tarrant
Madeline G Trudeau
Nicholas H. Turner
Marianne E. Ucko
Andy Van De Voorde
Ingrid Vibeke Bartels
Gemma Viets
Ann K. Wagner
Jim Wark
Laura Weinrich
Adam Weintraub
Theresa West
Colleen Whaley
Jean Whitson
Jana Wibberley
Lacey Wicksall
Harry L. Winston III
Kiera Winters
Susan Winters Lyons
Shawn Wolf
Suzanne Wright
Jerolyn Wroble
Daniel Zamudio
James Zepeda
Michael Zuro

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