For immediate release
Friday, September 2, 2005

The Houston Press and New Times Media today announced that they are donating $15,000 to the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, earmarked for a relief fund that will provide assistance for employees of Gambit Weekly, the New Orleans-based newspaper that’s one of the oldest and most admired members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

New Times will also match the tax-deductible donations that New Times managers and employees make to the ANF fund, up to an additional $15,000.

The Alternative Newsweekly Foundation was established to further the charitable goals of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, a 126-member trade association that includes eleven New Times newspapers. One of those papers, the Houston Press, is just over 300 miles from New Orleans.

In addition to this $30,000 pledge, New Times plans to notify displaced Gambit employees of any openings at its papers, and whenever possible offer them temporary positions while Gambit can re-establish itself. The Houston Press and the Dallas Observer, another New Times paper, will also do anything they can to aid Gambit employees and contributors. “As papers in a neighboring state, we’re in a position to help them find temporary housing and other services,” says Houston Press publisher Stuart Folb.

Recognizing that the needs left in the wake of this tragedy are incalculable, New Times wanted to make its first contribution to those members of our own journalistic community who have lost not just their jobs, but so much that they hold dear.

For more information, call Stuart Folb at 713-280-2400.