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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 13, 2007
HEALTH ALLIANCE FOR AUSTIN MUSICIANS
RAISES $180,000 ON 2ND HAAM BENEFIT DAY
Day’s Total Includes Businesses, Telethon, Individual Donations & Challenge Grants
AUSTIN, Texas — Health Alliance for Austin Musicians today announced that the second HAAM BENEFIT DAY, held Tuesday, October 2, raised $180,000 from the 175 community-spirited Austin-area businesses that participated, the unprecedented ME Television telethon, and challenge grants from the Topfer Family Foundation and The Moody Foundation.
During the announcement at ME Television Studios, where the telethon raised $27,000 of the total (including a grant of $10,000 from Charity Partners of Austin) and HAAM member-musicians performed for viewers and contributors, the entire city was praised for its expression of care and generosity toward the talented but often uninsured musicians who make the city’s music.
Robin Shivers, chairman of the HAAM Board of Directors and president of RRS Management — alongside HAAM director of services Carolyn Schwarz, HAAM BENEFIT DAY committee chairman Tim Taylor and presenting sponsor Whole Foods Market community relations coordinator Elizabeth Smith — also thanked the 175 large and small businesses that pledged 5 percent of proceeds from the day or made a cash donation, to the tune of $142,500, including $25,000 from presenting sponsor Whole Foods Market. The Topfer Family Foundation added a $25,000 grant, and The Moody Foundation one for $12,500, for the grand total of $180,000.
“The total amount raised this year is almost double the amount raised in 2006,” said Shivers. “That’s with 73 percent more participating businesses and more than double the HAAM member-musician bands that volunteered to perform on HAAM BENEFIT DAY from the 40 last year.”
Committee chairman Tim Taylor added: “Live music performances, inside businesses and on outdoor stages, covered the city every where you went, and everywhere there were volunteer HAAM-bassadors. It was a magical and musical day.”
Shivers also thanked local print and broadcast media outlets for their support and for reaching members of the large Austin community with the message of awareness of HAAM and HAAM BENEFIT DAY and how to make the most of the day of music and giving.
With the funds generated on October 2, the 2 1/2-year-old Health Alliance for Austin Musicians can focus on sustaining the high-quality services it provides for its members: the city’s hard-working, professional musicians, those who are self-employed and frequently cut off from increasingly expensive health insurance, those unable to afford preventive health, mental health or dental care, those who must juggle several day jobs to survive to play for residents and visitors.
Health Alliance for Austin Musicians has already chosen Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008, for the third HAAM BENEFIT DAY, and organizers hope to raise $200,000.
Health Alliance for Austin Musicians was founded in April 2005 when the Seton Family of Hospitals and St. David’s Community Health Foundation came together with The SIMS Foundation to provide medical, dental, and mental health and addiction-recovery services to the city’s hard-working low-income musicians. More than 950 musicians, most 35 and younger, have become members.
For more information and membership applications and to make a donation, visit www.myhaam.org or www.HealthAllianceForAustinMusicians.org or call 512.322.5177.
Contacts: Jill McGuckin, McGuckin Entertainment PR, 512.217.9404; jill@mcguckinpr.com
Carolyn Schwarz, director of services, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, 512.324.8976; cschwarz@healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org
Pam Crowther, Seton Family of Hospitals, 512.324-3170, pcrowther@seton.org
Kim Usey, St. David’s Community Health Foundation Leadership, 512.879.6612; kim@sdchf.org
Sandy Bruce, The SIMS Foundation, 512.472.1008; sbruce@simsfoundation.org
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