Anheuser-Busch donates water to victims in Texas, Oklahoma

May 30, 2015

The Anheuser-Busch brewery in Cartersville is making sure those affected by extreme weather conditions in the central United States aren’t without one of life’s most basic necessities.

According to a press release, on Thursday, the Cartersville brewery produced thousands of cans of water in its semi-annual run of emergency water used for donations throughout the year in partnership with the American Red Cross. Over the next few days, the states of Texas and Oklahoma will be receiving truckloads of that water in response to recent flooding, storms and tornadoes in the region. Anheuser-Busch Cartersville Brewery Senior General Manager Rob Haas said the natural disasters just happened to coincide with the time of year the brewery normally produces its supply of emergency water.

“In this case, we were scheduling to run water to make sure we had inventory for the rest of the year,” he explained. “And it just coincided, so we sped things up a bit, converted a little bit ahead of schedule to make sure that we had water available for the needs both in Texas and Oklahoma City.”

According to Haas, the brewery produced 30,000 cases of canned water and shipped 2,000 out to the victims. The rest will be stored as inventory to be used for future requests. And when it’s needed, the water moves quickly.

“What normally happens is, the Red Cross reaches out to us either directly to our headquarters or through our wholesaler network. We establish a location where the water is needed,” he noted. “We normally keep an inventory in a local warehouse here in Cartersville so that we can load a truck and get it shipped as soon as possible.”

When the brewery produces emergency water, it shuts down normal beer production. This may seem like a challenge but Haas indicated that it is largely a smooth procedure.

“It’s pretty straightforward. We’re uniquely positioned to do something like this. We do a lot of conversions anyway,” he said. “Any one of our breweries could do this. We’ve elected to do it at one brewery just because it makes a lot of sense to keep an inventory in one place and be able to ship it. We are very proud to do it. Obviously, our hearts go out to those affected. The devastation is just unimaginable. But we are very proud to do what little we can. this is our small way of helping.”

The press release stated that, since 1988, Anheuser-Busch has donated more than 73 million cans of emergency drinking water following natural and other disasters. The Cartersville brewery is responsible for packing all emergency drinking water distributed to disaster relief efforts across the United States. In addition to providing emergency drinking water, Anheuser-Busch is a member of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program, which enables the Red Cross to respond immediately to the needs of people affected by disaster anywhere in the U.S.

Article by Brandon Davis, Daily Tribune News