USA: Miller Brewing Company boosts water commitment to aid hurricane Katrina relief efforts

Miller Brewing Company announced on September 8 that it will produce 15 truckloads of 32-ounce bottles (13,440 bottles per load) of water per week over the next month to support the ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.

Miller is working with various state and federal relief agencies to determine the greatest needs for additional donated water. In the first week of the relief effort, Miller shipped 20 truckloads of water from its Albany, Ga., brewery to impacted areas, plus an additional two truckloads from its Irwindale, Calif., brewery to Houston in anticipation of evacuee needs there. Locations receiving Miller water over the past week include the FEMA center in Baton Rouge; Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg; and Miller distributors throughout the area.

Numerous Miller supplier partners have volunteered their goods and services to assist in the water donation, including:

-- Flint River Transportation, Bear Trucking, Fleetmaster Express Inc.,
Exel Transportation and Wiley Sanders Truck Lines, which donated the
transportation.
-- Owens-Illinois Glass, which donated the glass bottles.
-- Multi-Color Corporation, which donated the labels.
-- Inland Paperboard and Packaging, which donated the cardboard
containers.
-- FAMOSA, which donated the aluminum closures.

Miller Brewing Company announced last week that it will donate up to $1 million to the American Red Cross to aid with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Miller will be donating $500,000 immediately and will match all contributions from its employees and distributor partners up to an additional $500,000.

Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Company is the oldest major brewer in America, celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2005. Miller is a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller plc, one of the world's largest brewers. Throughout its history, Miller has been committed to creating strong communities across America, investing millions of dollars each year through community initiatives, taxes paid and local goods and services purchased. The company's community outreach focuses on five primary causes: Responsibility, Employment, AIDS/HIV, Cultural Diversity and Heritage Initiatives. More information about Miller Brewing Company is available at the company's corporate web site, http://www.MillerBrewing.com.

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