Corporations Pledge Support for Sandy Relief and Recovery Efforts
As officials from North Carolina to New Hampshire continue to assess the damage left by Superstorm Sandy, a number of financial institutions have announced million-dollar grants to the American Red Cross and other organizations for relief and recovery efforts.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Citi Foundation had announced a donation of $1 million to the American Red Cross for relief efforts, while TD Bank Group and the TD Charitable Foundation had pledged a total of $500,000. HSBC USA also announced a $1 million commitment for disaster recovery efforts, including $500,000 to the American Red Cross in Greater New York, and said it would match dollar-for-dollar all employee donations to relief efforts through its employee giving program and would work with community partners to provide emergency housing and financial assistance in affected communities. And the Bank of America Charitable Foundation announced its own donation of $1 million, including $500,000 to the American Red Cross Hurricanes 2012 fund. The remaining $500,000 will be directed to national, regional, and local nonprofits to support long-term recovery needs in affected communities.
Elsewhere, Wells Fargo & Company pledged $1 million for relief efforts, $250,000 of which will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and $750,000 to grassroots nonprofits involved in relief and recovery efforts in affected areas. In addition, through November 13, Wells customers will be able to donate to the Red Cross at most of the bank's more than twelve thousand ATMs nationwide.
Non-financial companies making donations include energy company Phillips 66, which announced a $500,000 contribution to the Red Cross for local disaster relief operations and said it would match individual employee contributions through its matching gift program; the Kellogg Co., which, through its Corporate Citizenship Fund, announced a $250,000 cash contribution to the American Red Cross and $250,000 worth of food to Feeding America; and Chevrolet, which announced that it was donating fifty Silverado pickup trucks and Express cargo vans to the Red Cross for use in relief and recovery efforts.
As of Tuesday, the Red Cross, in a press release, said it had mobilized 1,700 disaster relief workers from across the country, served more than 25,000 meals and snacks at 250 shelters, activated 167 response vehicles, and shipped more than 230,000 ready-to-eat meals to affected areas.
