Anheuser-Busch Delivers Canned Water to Assist Perry County Following Water Line Breaks

News provided by

Jan 07, 2010, 07:25 ET

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Anheuser-Busch is providing 2,200 cases - or approximately 53,000 cans of drinking water - for use by Kentucky residents affected by water line breaks that have left thousands of residents in Perry County without water.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100107/CG34496)

A truckload of water has been shipped from Cartersville, Ga., and will arrive tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. to a warehouse at 2751 Christopher Road in Hazard, Ky. The Salvation Army and local emergency services will distribute the water to residents in Kentucky affected by the water outage.

"It's important for communities to pull together and lend a helping hand, and Anheuser-Busch is proud to provide drinking water to these people in need," said Peter Kraemer, vice president of Supply for Anheuser-Busch. "Our company has a long and valued relationship with our friends throughout Kentucky, so we felt this is one way we could assist the county in its time of need."

Over the past two years, Anheuser-Busch and its distributors provided a total of 210,042 cases - or more than 5 million cans - of packaged drinking water to victims of natural disasters. These included wildfires in California; hurricanes and storms in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas; and flooding in New York, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Since 1988, Anheuser-Busch has donated more than 68.5 million cans of drinking water following natural and other disasters.

"Anheuser-Busch is in a unique position to provide water to those in need. Few corporations have the infrastructure to package beverages and distribute them quickly," Kraemer said. "When a disaster like this strikes, very simply put, we have a responsibility to package and provide water to our neighbors, and we're proud to do so."

Helping communities cope with disasters has been an Anheuser-Busch tradition since 1906 when Adolphus Busch made a donation to victims of the San Francisco earthquake. Today, in addition to providing monetary support, Anheuser-Busch packages fresh drinking water and donates it to emergency relief organizations for distribution to those in need.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 49.2 percent share of U.S. beer sales. The company brews the world's largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer. Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine's Most Admired Global Companies list in 2009. Anheuser-Busch is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world's largest recyclers of aluminum cans. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

SOURCE Anheuser-Busch