ASI® Donation Drive Raises $259,359 for Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts and Sends 5 Tons of Goods to Alabama

TREVOSE, PA - Oct. 3, 2005 - Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI), the largest media organization serving the promotional products industry, announced today that it has raised $259,359 for the American Red Cross’ Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and is sending 5 tons of needed goods to Alabama.

Timothy M. Andrews, President of ASI, said “ASI launched a donation drive for victims of Hurricane Katrina with a $25,000 matching gift challenge. The response has been overwhelming. ASI’s 21,000 members and its employees have donated $234,359 to the American Red Cross. With the ASI company match, a total of $259,359 was contributed.”

In addition to the cash donations, the second of two tractor trailer trucks filled with donated relief goods bound for Mobile, Alabama, departed the loading docks at ASI’s headquarters at Bucks County Technology Park this week. In total, 5 tons of goods are being delivered to the Alabama Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster agency for distribution to the American Red Cross.

Some ASI member companies are even selling relief-related goods and donating all of the proceeds, and others have collected additional tonnage of goods that have been shipped to Houston, Texas.

Avaline, a promotional products industry supplier and ASI member company, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, made a contribution of $55,000 to the ASI donation drive from the sales of green wristbands emblazoned with the message, ‘Relief, Rebuild, Renew’. Sales of the wristbands continue and additional donations will be forthcoming.

Len Hornstein, CEO of Avaline, said “This is the least we can do. On behalf of Avaline's management and employees, we're pleased that we can make this contribution to ASI's donation drive to help our neighbors in the South.”

Florence Kawoczka, Director of Financial Development for the American Red Cross, Lower Bucks County Chapter, Pennsylvania, said “The responses to ASI’s donation drive to help victims of Hurricane Katrina have been outstanding. ASI has stepped up and is serving as a role model to encourage other businesses to join in helping people who have lost everything. Special thanks to everyone who is contributing.”

For more information about the ASI donation drive to benefit the American Red Cross’ Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, call 800-546-1487, or visit www.asicentral.com.

About ASI
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media organization serving the promotional products industry, with a membership of 21,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of promotional products. Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to more than 18,000 distributor firms. Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain more than 750,000 promotional products, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers of promotional products. It provides catalogs, informational directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers interactive e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.

# # #