Anheuser-Busch Sending More Than 250,000 Cans of Water to Assist Hurricane Irene Relief Efforts in North Carolina

Water is on Way to Greenville, Elizabeth City, New Bern and Wilmington

ST. LOUIS - Anheuser-Busch is providing 10,780 cases of drinking water - or 258,720 cans - for use by residents in North Carolina affected by Hurricane Irene and the resulting flooding and power outages. 

Trucks loaded with water left the company's brewery in Cartersville, Ga., today and are scheduled to arrive early tomorrow at three locations of local Budweiser wholesaler R.A. Jeffreys Distributing: 1950 North Greene Street in Greenville; 1702 Red Robin Lane in New Bern; and 805 North 23^rd Street in Wilmington. Water also is being sent to another Budweiser wholesaler, City Beverage, 1471 Weeksville Road, in Elizabeth City.

Water will arrive in the hardest hit areas, Greenville and New Bern, at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. The wholesalers are working with the Red Cross and local relief organizations to get the water where it's needed.

"People in North Carolina are in need of fresh drinking water as they work to recover from the effects of Hurricane Irene,and this is one way Anheuser-Busch and our local wholesalers can help," said Peter Kraemer, vice president of Supply for Anheuser-Busch. 

Last week, in advance of the storm, the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Cartersville, Ga., produced the water so it could be ready when needed. So far this year Anheuser-Busch has donated 1.7  million cans of water for U.S. disaster relief.  Since 1988, Anheuser-Busch has donated more than 70 million cans of drinking water following natural and other disasters.

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.