Nestlé Waters North America Sends 5.4 Million Bottles of Water for Hurricane Sandy Victims
November 8, 2012
"Bottled water is a critical second source of drinking water, and never is that more clear than when access to public water is disrupted," said Heidi Paul, vice president corporate affairs for Nestle Waters North America.
More than five million bottles of water arrived last weekend and early this week in New York and New Jersey communities hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. Approximately 100 trucks converged on the region from Nestle Waters North America (NWNA) plants in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas and Maine, where employees are working tirelessly to meet the acute needs of storm victims. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the New York Office of Emergency Management made the request for bottled water to meet immediate need in the region.
The company also donated 200,000 bottles of Poland Spring® water that were designated for the NYC Marathon. When that event was cancelled, it was decided to turn over all bottled water donated to relief agencies. This brings total bottled water donations by NWNA to more than 775,000 bottles, most of which have by distributed through disaster relief partners AmeriCares and The American Red Cross.
For example, the Red Cross is using bottles of Nestle® Pure Life® purified water sent to its Somerset, New Jersey warehouse to provide assistance to people in shelters and communities in that region facing disruptions in municipal water supplies. AmeriCares has received donations of Deer Park® water to be distributed to The Salvation Army for Nassau County on Long Island, and Nestle® Pure Life® to help residents of New York City housing projects.
“The bottled water industry plays a critical role at times like this to provide large quantities of clean, safe water that can be transported and stored safely,” says Heidi Paul, vice president corporate affairs for Nestlé Waters North America. “We are proud of the efforts and commitment of our employees across the country who work around the clock to get water to people in need.”
Several other bottled water companies also contributed with their donations to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. People who would like to learn how they can support relief efforts should visit:
http://www.americares.org/ or http://www.redcross.org/.
Directly released from Nestle Waters North America