Is Your Company Helping?

Instead of asking your boss for a raise today, ask what your company can do to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Let's all get involved!

Here in Wisconsin, look who is stepping up:

• Johnson Controls Inc. is donating $1 million to the American Red Cross.

• Miller Brewing Co. is sending more than 80,000 32-ounce bottles of drinking water.

• S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. is shipping 30,000 units of Off! insect repellent and donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross. It will also match employee donations up to $50,000.

• JohnsonDiversey Inc. is donating 2,500 cases of cleaning and sanitation products and will match employee donations up to $10,000.

• Nicolet Forest Bottling Inc. is preparing to send several truckloads with 4,500 gallons each of bottled water.

• Wis-Pak Inc. sent bottled water.

• Wisconsin Pharmacal Co. is selling water purification tablets at up to a 70 percent discount to buyers, who they donate them, and said it will match 20 percent of the donated total.

• Schneider National Inc. is preparing to donate trucking service.

• Midwest Air Group Inc., operator of Midwest Airlines, is rescheduling for free flights to or from New Orleans that have been canceled through Oct. 30.

• The National Funeral Directors Association, based in Brookfield, is organizing volunteer undertakers to work in the areas affected by the storm.


KFSM News out of Ft. Smith and Fayetteville, AR, reports on the following generousity from other U.S. companies:

Several large corporations and their employees are helping by donating money and other items that could help with rescue, repair, and treatment. Wal-Mart has given$2 million to help out refugees, and rival Target has pledged $1.5 million, in addition to offering some of its real estate in affected areas to the Red Cross for setting up shelters and staging areas.

A total of $13.5 million comes from companies including Chevron, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Walt Disney. An additional $6 million will be handed out from major businesses including Pfizer, Abbott laboratories, State Farm, and EDS, which plans to match employee contributions up to $1 million.

The generosity, however, isn't just coming in the form of money. Several companies are donating medicine like insulin, antibiotics, pain relievers, and vaccines. Also being offered to victims are items like soap and shampoo. Even cars and trucks are being donated to Mississippi Emergency Management and to the Red Cross, as well as thousands of walkie-talkie type cell phones for emergency personnel to use. Bottles of water are being delivered by the truckload.

Qwest is helping victims reach out to family and friends, by giving out 2,000 long-distance calling cards. Office Depot just made the decision to donate the contents of five stores to help disaster victims. That donation alone is worth $4 million.