HOUSTON - April 2008, The Sell Gourmet Network has partnered with the Louisiana State University Houston Alumni Association as a donor and sponsor for 2008-2009 fundraising season. The LSU Houston chapter of the Louisiana State University Alumni Association boasts one of the largest memberships in the country with a reported 10,000 paid members and another 20,000 graduates living in the Houston area.

Sell Gourmet, Inc., founder and president, Jerry Gabbert, was on hand to coordinate the Championship Ring Sponsorship donation with several of Sell Gourmet’s gourmet food clients who donated many of their products for silent auction to raise money to help LSU retain professorships at the university.

“We’re proud to help with such a great cause and also to be associated with Louisiana State University and the LSU Houston Alumni Association”, said Louisiana native Jerry Gabbert. Jennifer Lindsay, current LSU Houston Alumni president added, “We are appreciative to have connected with Sell Gourmet to bring us great Louisiana-based donors such as Aunt Sally’s Pralines, Kinloch Plantation Pecan Oil, Blue Magnolia Bread Pudding Mixes, The Crawfish Caddy and Hot Sauce Harry’s to add home grown Louisiana products to ’spice up’ our silent auction fundraiser”. In addition to Sell Gourmet’s items, there were numerous gift baskets, signed prints depicting LSU sports, autographed and signed media football by head coach Les Miles and the entire LSU Tigers 2007 National Championship Football Team as well as vacation trips around the world and even tickets to next seasons highly anticipated 2008 football season.

Treasurer Josh Anderson noted, “Our goal each year is to raise $60,000 plus to do our part as alumnus of LSU. With the turn out we had for this years Crawfish Boil, we are in a position to make serious headway towards our goal and Jerry and Sell Gourmet have not only contributed $1,500 towards that goal, but we feel we’ve found a true partner for years to come as an active sponsor through so many great companies that he represents”.

The event was catered with 3,000 pounds of hot boiled crawfish at the Armadillo Palace, next to the legendary Goode Company BBQ restaurant on Kirby Drive at Hwy 59. This years event was so successful that after the first 600 people who attended, others who had not purchased their tickets in advance were turned away. But, none left empty handed as they went away with LSU logo pens, caps, koozies, wrist bands and many other donated materials in classic purple and gold colors.

There were several vendors on hand selling shirts and caps with the 2007 National Champion LSU Tigers emblem recognizing the accomplishments of the Tigers third national championship in football this past season. All profits generated from the sale of these items were donated to the cause.

“There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make this event successful and I had a lot of help from volunteers and staff members from the association…but the crawfish were to die for; they were so good!” said Crawfish Boil chair Ali Widener.

Membership to the Greater Houston LSU Alumni Association is available on a yearly basis. Graduates and friends of LSU are encouraged to join. Membership includes e-mail announcements about events throughout the year. You’ll receive the latest in information around LSU, game watches, happy hours, college nights, events, and specials available to the Greater Houston LSU Alumni Association.

In addition, your membership is tax-deductible. LSUAA is a non-profit organization - all monies collected by the Greater Houston LSU Alumni Chapter are given back to LSU to fund our current LSU professorship (currently up to $11,000 with a goal of $60,000). In the past we have also completed one fully funded professorship ($60,000) and a Top 100 Scholarship ($20,000 - recipients are picked by LSU and not the Alumni Chapter).

Sell Gourmet Inc. is a privately held corporation located in Houston, Texas. Our mission is to revolutionize the way business is conducted in the fragmented gourmet and specialty food industry. We bring years of combined experience in the industry including sales and marketing management, business operations management, e-commerce/internet business, and wholesale distribution & logistics.

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