Tom Joyner, BlackAmericaWeb.com Establish Relief Fund for Families, Friends Assisting Hurricane Katrina Victims

Tom Joyner, BlackAmericaWeb.com Establish Relief Fund for Families, Friends Assisting Hurricane Katrina Victims

DALLAS, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Tom Joyner, the top ranked nationally syndicated radio personality and entrepreneur, announced today the creation of the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund. The organization, formed in association with his online community BlackAmericaWeb.com, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and parent company REACH Media, will assist people who are helping those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

"Hurricane Katrina hit the heart and soul of Black America," says Joyner, whose four-hour, drive-time radio show is aired on 115 markets reaching 8 million listeners. "This is our Tsunami and we want to take care of those people who now may have family or friends who are going to be in their homes for an extended period of time. We know it's hard and we want to make it a little easier on everybody."

The BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund will accept donations to provide relief in the form of gift cards to support families who are housing those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The Fund will support individual families who have opened their homes to displaced families and loved ones to supplement their households as relief efforts continue. Relief assistance will be given directly to the families who need assistance.

Taking a grassroots approach, the relief fund will partner with local churches throughout affected regions. The churches will serve as effective conduits in both identifying and assisting households in need. In addition to localized efforts, the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show has suspended the popular "TJMS Cash Call" contest and will donate the contest money directly to relief efforts. This action alone donates more than $75,000 to the fund. Motivational speaker and personality, Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner Morning Show personalities Sybil Wilkes and J Anthony Brown have each pledged $1,000 this morning.

More information about how the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund will provide relief to families helping families, you can go to BlackAmericaWeb.com and register for more information. Additional information will be released today via email to BlackAmericaWeb.com members and at www.blackamericaweb.com/relief .

The BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund will accept donations at www.blackamericaweb.com and by mail at:

BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund PO Box 803209 Dallas, TX 75240

For those in need of assistance, BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund assistance request form can be downloaded at www.blackamericaweb.com/relief. All relief requests must be submitted by the church or partner organization administrator. Companies, sponsors and potential partners interested in providing matching funds or resources are encouraged to contact Katrina Witherspoon, President & CEO of the BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund at 972.371.5850. You can also call Toll Free -- 888-866-1741 to get the information on how to make a donation and how to receive relief assistance.

About REACH Media Inc.

REACH Media, founded by radio personality, philanthropist and entrepreneur Tom Joyner, is a multi-media company formed in January 2003 as the parent company of all of The Tom Joyner Morning Show and several other businesses that will target African-Americans through radio, television, event production and the internet. Its website, BlackAmericaWeb.com (http://blackamericaweb.com/), which has more than 850,000 members, is a virtual town square for visitors to get daily news, play games, search for jobs and listen to the Morning Show online. REACH Media also produces the Tom Joyner Family Reunion @ Walt Disney World Resorts (http://www.blackamericaweb.com/family), a three-day Labor Day Weekend event, featuring top-name performers, comedians, seminars and access to the theme parks and the "Tom Joyner Show", a nationally syndicated television show that will reach 70% of the general market and 85% of the African-American audience across the United States.

About BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund - Helping Families Help Families

The BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund is seeking qualification as a Section 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization formed to operate as a charitable service to benefit individuals and families determined to be victims of publicly declared disasters. The BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund is expected to receive temporary tax exemption status to immediately expedite its ability to begin soliciting and distributing donations to benefit those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Source: REACH Media Inc.

CONTACT: Neil Foote, Director, Communications of REACH Media Inc., +1-972-371-5840, or +1-214-448-3765, Neil.foote@reachmediainc.com; or Pilaar Terry of Bragman Nyman Cafarelli, +1-310-854-4800, pterry@bncpr.com, for REACH Media Inc.

Web site: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/ http://www.blackamericaweb.com/relief

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