Posted on 09/08/2005 5:51:05 AM PDT by OESY
...The straightforward generosity of the corporate sector has been well reported. [D]onations had exceeded $200 million. Besides cash, companies have handed out free drugs, suspended finance payments on cars and mortgages and helped emergency personnel with equipment. As interesting, though, has been the application of corporate best practices-- from supply-chain management to logistics-- to a natural disaster.
The private-sector planning began before Katrina hit. Home Depot's "war room" had transferred high-demand items -- generators, flashlights, batteries and lumber -- to distribution areas surrounding the strike area. Phone companies readied mobile cell towers and sent in generators and fuel. Insurers flew in special teams and set up hotlines to process claims.
This planning allowed the firms to resume serving customers in record time. Katrina shut down 126 Wal-Mart facilities; all but 14 are now open. Entergy, the power company for 1.1 million households and businesses that lost electricity, had restored electricity by Monday to 575,000 customers, including areas of flooded New Orleans.
Businesses offered near-instant support to their own employee-victims. Staff set up hotlines and began tracking down missing workers. Thousands of workplace victims were provided with places to stay, promises of continued pay and even offers of replacement jobs....
At the heart of the corporate response was a stunning array of advanced communications networks....
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, through its non-profit Center for Corporate Citizenship, became a clearinghouse, fielding calls from many of its 3,000 state and local organizations and compiling lists of needed supplies.
By the weekend the Chamber's CCC was turbo-charging a new computer program, designed by tech firm i2, which served as a kind of bridal registry for needed relief supplies. Each donor company indicated what order it would fill, avoiding duplication or delay....
FedEx has already moved more than 100 tons of relief supplies....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Private enterprise doing what the government was never intended to do.
Americans are the best of the best....Always have been always will be...
I doubt CNN/MSNBC/Katie & MAtt, et al. will broadcast similar stories.
Good info for Ethics in Business. Social engineering leaves a vacuum; private endeavors make prompt, enduring positive change.
I'll eat worms when I hear Ted Kennedy, or Nancy Pelosi, or Jesse Jackson, or any other liberal loon admit that.
Worth repeating.
A success story about the evil corporations. If only the government was this nimble!
WHAT'S BEING OFFERED -- Caution: This report is as of Wed. Aug. 31, 2005:
-- Companies are donating money and goods for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
-- American Red Cross says at least 30 companies had made donations by Wednesday morning.
-- U.S. Chamber of Commerce says initial corporate donations could total more than $100 million.
SOME MONETARY DONATIONS
-- Chevron: $5 million.
-- JPMorgan Chase: $3 million.
-- Citigroup: $3 million.
-- Walt Disney Co.: $2.5 million.
-- Pfizer: $2 million.
-- Abbott Laboratories: $2 million.
-- State Farm: $1 million.
-- EDS: Will match employee contributions up to $1 million.
HEALTH CARE DONATIONS
-- Eli Lilly: 40,000 vials of refrigerated insulin.
-- Wyeth: antibiotics and nonprescription pain relievers.
-- Merck: antibiotics and hepatitis A vaccines.
-- Johnson & Johnson: Pain relievers, wound care supplies and kits containing toothbrushes, soap and shampoo.
-- Abbott Laboratories: At least $2 million in nutritional and medical products.
SOME OTHER DONATIONS
-- Nissan: 50 trucks for Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
-- General Motors: 25 cars and trucks to the Red Cross.
-- Sprint Nextel: 3,000 walkie talkie-type phones for emergency personnel.
-- Qwest Communications: 2,000 long-distance calling cards.
-- Kellogg: Seven truckloads of crackers and cookies.
-- Culligan International: Five truckloads of water.
-- Anheuser-Busch: more than 825,000 cans of water.
-- Office Depot: Contents of its five New Orleans stores, valued at $4 million.
Check out this video. New Orleans police "patrolling" the inside of a Wal-Mart while loading up their shopping basket.
http://www.zippyvideos.com/8911023771013466/countdown-looting-in-walmart/
I think it's terrific how many have stepped up to the plate..............not a one HAD to do it, so I find criticism of what any do to be hard to swallow.
I was at a SAm's Club yesterday, and they were giving away hotdogs and chips and drinks outside. For free. There was a donation bucket at the counter, but no one was obligated to give anything. Also, inside the store was a donation bucket. I don't know how they are distributing the stuff they collect, but I don't think it's through the Red Cross.
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, medicine, and shelter. We need help taking care of their pets, too.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you. Believe me, there are a lot of organizations who need your help.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I'm adding more every night. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas Tuesday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
bump!
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