Anheuser-Busch is in the process of packaging over one million cans of drinking water for victims of Hurricane Sandy that hit the northeast early this week.
The St. Louis-based company has the ability to easily convert one or more of its beer-production lines to produce drinking water, which is something it has done in the wake of natural disasters since the late 1980s.
Margarita Flores, vice president of Community Affairs, says over 4,000 cases of water are on their way to local distributors in New Jersey. Over 10,000 cases will be delivered to Brooklyn, New York, over the weekend. She says she expects requests to pick up once the damage to the northeast is fully assessed.
The Anheuser-Busch Foundation will also donate $100,000 to the Red Cross to assist their efforts in the aftermath of the storm.
Flores says she expects the company to donate as many cans of water in the wake of Sandy as they did in an entire year last year.
“We anticipate because the storm was so widespread – affecting so many states – that we will probably be using close to the million cans of drinking water,” Flores said. “Last year was a pretty active year. We had probably 47 different natural disasters – from tornadoes to hurricanes to wildfires – so we contributed close to a million cans of drinking water last year, as well.”
Anheuser-Busch has worked with the Red Cross since the early 1900s and is the founding sponsor for the American Red Cross Ready Rating Program that helps communities prepare for disaster. Since 1988, the company has donated over 70 million cans of drinking water and about $425 million to charitable organizations.
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