NEW YORK -- Deeply touched by the terrorist attacks here and in the nation's capital, the food retailing and manufacturing communities continued their efforts last week to aid those affected by the tradedy.
Terry Maloy, chief marketing officer of Wild Oats, said, "Like all Americans, everyone at Wild Oats feels the need to do something to support the heroic recovery efforts following what happened on Sept. 11. This is our way to immediately help in the healing process."
H-E-B, San Antonio, made a $100,000 contribution to its own relief fund, and customers can give to the "United Way September 11th Fund" at checkouts chainwide.
In addition to the financial donations, H-E-B has partnered with blood banks across Texas, which are making blood donations to areas impacted by the tradgedy. The company has donated meals for blood bank staff working overtime, as well as several truckloads of much-needed food product such as orange juice, cookies and water for donors at these blood banks.
H-E-B's CEO Charles C. Butt said, "Many of our employees have been touched personally by this tragedy since they have family and friends that reside and work in New York and Washington D.C. We wanted to do everything possible to demonstrate our commitment of support in the wake of this tragedy."
Additional retailers joined relief efforts by creating funds or contributing directly to the American Red Cross. These include Bashas', Chandler, Ariz.; Framer Jack Stores, Detroit; Harris-Teeter, Matthews, N.C.; 7-Eleven, Dallas; Stater Bros., Colton, Calif.; Wegmans, Rochester, N.Y.; and Weis Markets, Sunbury, Pa.
In the wake of the tragic events of Sept. 11, many consumer packaged goods companies, all members of the Grocery Manufacturers of America, Washington, have continued to show their support. Some of those providing financial assistance and material resources include the following:
Coca-Cola -- Made a $12 million contribution to relief efforts: $6 million will be directed to the American Red Cross while the other $6 million will be distributed to a variety of local relief organizations in New York and Washington.
Del Monte Foods -- Shipped more than 720,000 containers of fruit cups and single-serve cans of fruit to the site of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare -- Announced a $1 million donation to the New York City Public Private Initiatives, a fund that will provide aid to the families of city police officers and fire rescue personnel who died or are still missing following the attack on the World Trade Center. GlaxoSmithKline will also match employee contributions to disaster relief organizations.
Hershey Foods -- Donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross of Greater New York.
Kellogg's -- Working with the Second Harvest National Network of Food Banks to send 1 million servings of food to assist victims and relief workers in New York and Washington.
Mars -- The company's subsidiary, Uncle Ben's, is on-site at the World Trade Center and had provided more than 2,200 meals to relief workers. Its Kal Kan Pet Care subsidiary is providing dog food to the search-and-rescue dogs. Its M&M/Mars subsidiary is providing candy to relief workers.
McCormick & Co. -- Donated $50,000 to the Red Cross.
McIlhenny Co. -- Donated to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
Nestle USA -- Donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross, and is preparing to ship food and beverage products to New York and Washington, including power bars, ice cream and bottled water.
Phillip Morris Cos. -- Has announced a $10 million commitment to assisting victims. * Procter & Gamble -- Has pledged $250,000 to recovery efforts, donated $250,000 to the American Red Cross and contributed $250,000 to the New York Times 911 Neediest Fund, which provides aid to victim's families. Procter & Gamble has also donated Eukanuba foods to search-and-rescue dog teams and to area pet shelters. In addition, Procter & Gamble has given $250,000 worth of products to the American Red Cross, America's Second Harvest and to the New York City Department of Health, Office of the Chief Medical Officer.
Ralston Purina -- Providing Purina O.N.E. dog food for search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero.
Sara Lee -- Through its subsidiary Hanes, is providing socks, underwear and Champion sweatshirts and T-shirts to the American Red Cross Relief efforts.
Unilever -- Donated $2 million to organizations responsible for helping the children of the victims. Unilever is also making arrangements to provide food and personal care products to relief organizations.
Dozens of other companies have also pledged financial support or made donations of product toward the relief efforts in New York and Washington.
