Corporations and Organizations Help American Red Cross Prepare Communities for Disasters

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During National Preparedness Month in September, the American Red Cross is recognizing 96 leading corporations and organizations that give to the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder Program. Contributions enable the Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process. 

The Red Cross has responded to three times more large-scale disasters during the first months of 2016 than the previous three years combined along with helping at the scene of hundreds of home fires and other smaller disasters every day.

Members of both programs pledge donations in advance of disasters, which provide the Red Cross with a reliable funding base to immediately respond. Financial and in-kind donations from members support Red Cross disaster relief activities, including sheltering, feeding, purchasing and distributing relief supplies, storing equipment, maintaining vehicles, and providing health and emotional support.

"We are extremely grateful for our ADGP and Disaster Responder members because they understand the importance of having vital resources in place before a disaster strikes," said Gail McGovern, president and CEO at the American Red Cross. "Their support ensures that the necessary supplies get into any affected area to immediately provide support to disaster survivors and emergency personnel. We are very thankful for their generous gifts as we work to help people impacted by disasters each and every day."

Since the beginning of 2016, the Red Cross has provided disaster relief all over the country, including blizzards, floods, tornadoes and many other types of disasters. Large disaster responses have included the destructive floods and tornadoes in Texas, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and torrential rains and flooding in Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, as well as the most recent flooding in Louisiana.  For these large disasters, the Red Cross opened or supported a total of 221 shelters providing more than 88,000 overnight stays and delivered 2,127,000 meals and snacks.

Red Cross volunteers are also in their local communities every day, teaching preparedness and helping people cope with disasters big and small across the United States. ADGP and Disaster Responder members enable the Red Cross to improve community resilience in areas at higher risk for disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and, most commonly, house fires.

The current members of the Red Cross $1M Annual Disaster Giving Program are: American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Boise Paper; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Disney; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; The Home Depot Foundation; Humble Bundle; LDS Charities; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Mazda North American Operations; Merck Foundation; Nationwide Foundation; State Farm; Target; UPS; VSP℠ Vision care for life; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and The Wawa Foundation.

The current members of the Red Cross $500k Annual Disaster Giving Program are: Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bank of America; Capital One; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation; Discover; Edison International; Farmers Insurance; Ford Motor Company; Grainger; John Deere Foundation; Johnson Controls; Medtronic; Meijer; Mondelēz International Foundation; National Grid; PepsiCo Foundation; Prudential Foundation; Ryder; Southwest Airlines; Sprint; Sunoco; The TJX Companies, Inc.; United Airlines; United Technologies Corporation; Visa; and Wells Fargo.

The current members of the Red Cross Disaster Responder Program are: Alcoa; Almost Family; Astellas USA Foundation; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; AXA; Ball Foundation; BNY Mellon; CarMax; The Clorox Company; Cox Automotive; DTE Energy Foundation; Duke Energy; Entergy Corporation; General Motors Foundation; Harbor Freight Tools; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; Hi-Rez Studios; HP Foundation; IBM Corporation; IKEA; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; Interstate All Battery Center; Land O'Lakes, Inc.; MetLife Foundation; Morgan Stanley; Neiman Marcus Group; New Balance Foundation; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Procter & Gamble Company; PSEG Foundation; PuroClean Disaster Recovery; Red Heart Yarns; SC Johnson; ScriptRelief; Sealed Air; SERVPRO; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; T O Y O T A; The USAA Foundation; U.S. Bank; and U-Haul International.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090108/RedCrossLOGO

SOURCE American Red Cross

Related Links

http://www.redcross.org