In less than an hour, QVC and its customers raised nearly $750,000 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina by selling an awareness pin designed exclusively for the electronic retailer.

The blue enamel ribbon pin (item #J02247) features a symbolic white flower that represents the southern states affected by the tragedy. It is a combination of the magnolia, the state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi, and Alabama’s state flower, the camellia. The small crescent in the center of the flower represents “The Crescent City” of New Orleans. The pin’s back contains the words “Hope,” “Help,” and “Heal.”

In just 49 minutes of airtime, more than 45,000 orders were taken for the pin (which costs $16.50 plus $2.99 for shipping) to benefit the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina efforts.

In addition to the pin sales, the West Chester, Pa.-based company announced last week that it pledges to raise $3 million through a portion of product sales. Participating vendors will donate a stated portion of their QVC sales to the fund and QVC will match that donation. All vendors and their products that are part of the initiative are identified with an American Red Cross logo on-air and on QVC’s Web site, QVC.com.

JCK