More retailers are coming to the aid of Southeast Texas and Louisiana as residents of the region work to recover from Hurricane Harvey.
Drug chains Walgreens and CVS along with supermarket chain Aldi have each announced donations of funding and products in an effort to help ease the burden facing tens of thousands of storm victims.
Walgreens is donating food items, first aid and medical equipment including blood pressure cuffs, glucometer strips, catheters and transport wheelchairs to the American Red Cross emergency shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The retailer said it is also working with United Airlines to transport the first aid and medical items from Chicago to Houston on a flight with relief supplies.
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In addition, Walgreens has also committed to a $200,000 donation to the American Red Cross relief efforts, and customers also can donate to the American Red Cross at approximately 8,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations in the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
More than 300 out of approximately 500 Walgreens stores in southeast Texas and Louisiana are now open. Local Walgreens field leaders and store teams are working to reopen the other stores and restore pharmacy services as soon as possible.
Supermarket chain Aldi said it would donate $100,000 to the American Red Cross and $50,000 to the city of Rosenberg, TX. The company is also working with Feeding America to distribute 1,000 disaster relief boxes filled with canned fruits and vegetables, granola bars, peanut butter and utensils. Hundreds of Aldi employees packed the boxes during a service day at the company’s headquarters in Batavia, IL, to support individuals and families displaced from their homes due to natural disasters. Each box contains more than 35 products.
CVS Health and the CVS Health Foundation is donating $200,000 in cash and in-kind product donations to organizations helping with relief efforts. The CVS Health Foundation has donated $50,000 each to the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the American Red Cross, as well as $25,000 to Salvation Army, to aid the greater Houston area in supporting local residents as they begin the recovery and rebuilding process. CVS Health colleagues are invited to make a donation amount of their choosing, which will be matched by the CVS Health Foundation, up to $25,000.
CVS Pharmacy is also continuing to identify how Hurricane Harvey has impacted over 200 locations in the greater Houston region. The company’s mobile pharmacies will be moved into the area once it is safe to do so, the company said.
