Congratulations to local Austinite Tim Timmerman on winning the 2010 Spring for the Water Guitar Raffle! Timmerman’s ticket was selected on Sunday afternoon in front of hundreds who attended the Gazelle Foundation’s first annual Spring for the Water fundraiser at the historic Pease Mansion in Austin. He is joined in the picture by his wife, son, and Gazelle Foundation Executive Director Gilbert Tuhabonye. The Fender guitar was signed by over a dozen local celebrities including Willie Nelson, Mack Brown, and Lance Armstrong, Ray Benson and Gov. Rick Perry.  More than 500 tickets were purchased in support of the Foundation.

Our other raffle winners were:

Mary Ellen Fine – 1 1/2 hour massage at AustinDeep (www.austindeep.com)
Cressida Kwolek – SAKS gift certificate
Jodi Maychen – El Arroyo gift certificate (ditch.com)
Philip Walker – Tailored shirt from Keepers (www.keepersclothing.com)
Harriett Pozen – Castle Hill Fitness Gym Membership (www.castlehillfitness.com)

AUSTIN, TX – The Gazelle Foundation is pleased to announce that it has made a $6,000 grant to Food for the Hungry for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.  Grant funds were raised during Gazelle Foundation Executive Director Gilbert Tuhabonye’s 2010 Marathon Challenge.  Prior to participating in the 2010 Austin Marathon, Mr. Tuhabonye challenged the running community to make donations based on his race effort.  At Mr. Tuhabonye’s suggestion, the Gazelle Foundation board agreed to grant half of funds raised during the challenge to Haitian earthquake relief.  “While the our  mission is still centered on helping people in Burundi and giving back to Central Texas youth, this was a situation where we needed to step outside our primary mission to help the people of Haiti,” said Mr. Tuhabonye.  “I am so pleased with the tremendous community response.”

Food for the Hungry is a non-governmental organization that implements transformational development programs in impoverished communities around the world. Their efforts in Haiti were immediate following the devastating earthquakes and the conditions that many were suffering under touched home to Mr. Tuhabonye, co-founder and inspiration behind the Gazelle Foundation, “In Burundi growing up we had nothing. No clean water or electricity and no shoes. To see people suffering in Haiti made me take action.”

Tuhabonye has participated in past Austin Marathons as a way to draw awareness and raise money for the Gazelle Foundation. “This time I wanted to run for something greater than myself and I wanted to give back to both my home country and to Haiti.”  Through generous donations from more than 100 Central Texans, Tuhabonye raised close to $12,000. The grant to Food for the Hungry is specific to Haitian relief efforts and expected to contribute to the distribution of tarps and ropes for temporary housing so that thousands of Haitians could withstand the rainy season.

Partnership between the Gazelle Foundation and Food for the Hungry began in 2009 with the implementation of a clean water project in Burundi. Completed last September, the project now provides over 2,500 residents access to clean water for the first time ever in their villages.  The chartable organizations are currently exploring avenues for their next project in Burundi.

To learn more about the Gazelle Foundation, please visit www.gazellefoundation.com; Food for the Hungry’s web site is located at www.fh.org.