Coinstar Facilitates Donations To Hurricane Relief Through Its Coinstar Kiosks

BELLEVUE, Wash., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Coinstar, Inc. is joining its employees and Americans in supporting the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts of the American Red Cross. Americans can donate their spare change at more than 14,000 Coinstar® donation-enabled kiosks across the United States and Red Cross will receive within 48 hours.   

To make a donation at a Coinstar kiosk through Nov. 30, 2012, individuals simply select the "donate" option from the menu, choose the American Red Cross, and pour in any amount of change to support relief efforts providing food, shelter and other assistance to hurricane victims. The Red Cross will receive 100 percent of the value of the donations.

"We are putting the power of our nationwide network of Coinstar locations to work for hurricane relief," said Paul Davis, chief executive officer of Coinstar, Inc. "If half of the U.S. population donated just one dollar, it would translate to more than $150 million in aid to help families get back on their feet."

"The impact of Hurricane Sandy is widespread and the road to recovery will be long for many families in its path," said Roger Lowe, senior vice president of communications at the American Red Cross.  "We appreciate Coinstar's support of Red Cross disaster relief, and its help in collecting and getting donations to where they are needed most."

In other relief efforts, Coinstar and its 2,700 employees are supporting Team Rubicon, an organization that connects the unique skills of returning veterans with disaster recovery needs. Coinstar will match all employee donations made to this organization through Veterans Day, Nov. 12, 2012.  

Davis added, "Team Rubicon is a great example of a social innovation that uses the specialized skills of veterans in times of disaster so we are pleased to support this program with an internal campaign encouraging our employees to make donations."

Consumers can find a nearby Coinstar kiosk with the donation option by visiting www.coinstar.com.  Individuals can also donate directly to the American Red Cross at www.redcross.org or Team Rubicon at www.teamrubiconusa.org.

About Coinstar, Inc.

Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTR) is a leading provider of automated retail solutions offering convenient services that make life easier for consumers and drive incremental traffic and revenue for retailers. The company's core automated retail businesses include the well-known Redbox® self-service DVD and video game rental and Coinstar® self-service coin-counting brands. The company has approximately 42,400 Redbox DVD kiosks and 20,300 coin-counting kiosks in supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, financial institutions, convenience stores, and restaurants. Redbox also offers DVD rentals through additional kiosks acquired from NCR Corporation in June 2012. For more information, visit www.coinstarinc.com.

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 join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

About Team Rubicon

Team Rubicon (TR) unites the skills and experience of military veterans with medical professionals to rapidly deploy emergency response teams into crisis situations. TR offers veterans a chance to continue their service by helping and empowering those afflicted by disasters, and also themselves. For more about Team Rubicon, visit www.teamrubiconusa.org.

SOURCE Coinstar, Inc.