Contribution made in honor of ABB Team Challenge winners at 2009 Chevron Houston Marathon events
HOUSTON - (July 16, 2008) - ABB Inc. has announced that it will make a financial donation to one of the Chevron Houston Marathon's Run for a Reason charities. The donation will be made in honor of the winners of the ABB Team Challenge.
The ABB Team Challenge, the newest addition to the marathon's family of events, aims to encourage fitness and fundraising by encouraging companies, running clubs, charitable groups and individuals to form teams to participate in the city's marathon, half-marathon or 5K. Awards will be presented to top racing and fundraising teams.
The ABB Foundation, ABB's charitable giving arm, will make donations as follows:
* $2000 for first (in each of the marathon, half-marathon and Open divisions)
>BR>* $1250 for second (in each of the marathon, half-marathon and Open divisions)
* $750 for third (in each of the marathon, half-marathon and open divisions)
* $2250 for the fundraiser to raise the greatest amount of money among all ABB Team Challenge entries
All donations will be made directly to the Houston Food Bank, in honor of the winners. ABB employees in the Houston area selected the Houston Food Bank as the recipient of the ABB Team Challenge awards. In addition, ABB's employees hope to raise an additional $50,000 for the food bank in 2008 through a series of fundraising events and employee contributions, as well as further support from ABB Foundation.
"ABB is committed to supporting the communities where its people live and work. ABB Foundation, which is primarily funded through ABB employee contributions, gives us a chance to provide financial assistance to local charities or other organizations in need," said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, president of ABB's Process Automation division. "The Run for a Reason program gave us a great opportunity to identify and select a local charity which we could support, which turned out to be the Houston Food Bank."
"The Houston Marathon Committee's Run for a Reason program raised over $1.25 million for charity in 2008," said Brant Kotch, Race Director of the Chevron Houston Marathon. "With the addition of the ABB Team Challenge, the program aims to raise even more funds in 2009."
ABB provides power and automation technologies to utility and industry customers to improve performance and reduce environmental impact. The company employs 500 people in the Houston area, global headquarters of its Process Automation Division, and more than 110,000 people in about 100 countries worldwide.
Details of the ABB Team Challenge are available at: ChevronHoustonMarathon.com.
The Chevron Houston Marathon, a Running USA Founding Member, is the nation's premier winter marathon, annually attracting participants from all 50 U.S. states and nearly 30 foreign countries. The Chevron Houston Marathon offers the only closed marathon course in Texas and is ranked among the top five in the nation by the Ultimate Guide to Marathons for fastest course, organization and crowd support. More information is available online at ChevronHoustonMarathon.com or by calling (713) 957-3453.
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.
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