Anheuser-Busch Delivers Canned Water to Assist Nashville Following Flooding

ST. LOUIS, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Anheuser-Busch is providing 4,312 cases — or more than 103,000 cans of drinking water — for use by Nashville residents affected by the serious flooding in the area.

Two trucks loaded with donated drinking water left the company's brewery in Cartersville, Ga., last night.  The first truck arrived yesterday in Nashville at 9:45 p.m. to the Metro Southeast Building, 1417 Murphysboro Pike, for emergency workers to distribute to residents of Davidson County in need of fresh drinking water.  A second truckload arrived this morning in the 7 a.m. hour.

"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 in Nashville and throughout Tennessee, so we felt this is one way we could assist the area in its time of need."

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 in 2008 and 2009.  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."

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 48.9 percent share of U.S. beer sales to retailers.  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 is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years.  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