Florida Charity Wins Year's Supply of CITGO Gasoline

SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla.-- The first winner of CITGO Petroleum Corp.'s Fueling Good promotion is the Children's Volunteer Health Network (CVHN), based in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.

The Fueling Good program, launched in June 2009, is designed to recognize and reward people who go above and beyond to provide a positive impact on the lives of others, awarding them a year's supply of gasoline. The Fueling Good contest invites local heroes to submit their stories of doing good to www.FuelingGood.com.

CVHN provides free health and dental care to uninsured and underinsured children across northwest Florida. The entry submitted by CVHN received the most points, beating out four other finalists, to help them continue their work of spreading hope and health care to school-aged children across Florida’s Walton and Okaloosa counties.

"It’s great to recognize and give back to a local charity that does so much for people across northwest Florida," said Jim Burns, vice president with Tom Thumb Food Stores. "By helping to tell the CVHN story, I hope other people will be inspired to give back to their own communities. Tom Thumb Food Stores do a lot through our locally owned CITGO operations to support people in need, such as our annual American Cancer Society Golf Tournament, Relay for Life, Children in Crisis and the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center. We’re glad to have local partners helping to improve the lives of people in Santa Rosa Beach."

Jane Bahr, a founding board member of CVHN, added: "We are always watching our budget, so having a year's supply of free fuel will let us spend that money in other ways and continue our work in the community. Not only will our prize from CITGO enable our program to reach a wider audience across Florida’s panhandle, but the exposure generated by our involvement in Fueling Good has helped raise our profile across the country. We hope that through this contest, we can make more people aware of the needs of uninsured and underinsured children."

In addition to the grand-prize winner, this month's runners up each received a $50 CITGO gift card. They include: Food Drive for Kids organized by Lisa Muran of Crystal Beach, Fla., for collecting food for a local facility that houses families with children fighting cancer; Spread the Dough of Stratham, N.H. for collecting bread and distributing it to local homeless shelters; and Amanda Lianne Maness of Bear Creek, N.C., who lost sight in one eye after a car accident in late 2008 and now coordinates programs for children who are visually impaired.

Also a runner-up was Home Runs for Hope, a program created by 11-year-old Zachary Stokes, which encourages friends, family and others in the community to donate money for every home run hit by the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. All money raised goes to the Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia, S.C., where Zachary receives vital health care.

Each month through November, five finalists will be selected from entries for a monthly online vote, which will help decide the winner of gift cards worth a year’s supply of fuel from CITGO.

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