[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 102 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CORPORATE CHARITY AFTER TSUNAMI

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                           HON. HENRY J. HYDE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 25, 2005

  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, we hear so many negative comments about big 
business, I thought it would be refreshing to talk about some of their 
magnanimous charitable actions following the tsunami in Indonesia. I 
read an article in the Washington Times on July 18th written by Michael 
Casey at Associated Press that bears repeating.
  Hearing about the plight of so many in Indonesia after the tsunami, 
more than 400 U.S. companies gave over $561 million for tsunami relief 
according to the Center for Corporate Citizenship of the U.S. Chamber 
of Commerce. Dozens of them were Fortune 500 companies. $71 million in 
donations were made by employee matching contributions, with $71 
million corporate contributions. American companies gave $721 million 
after the September 11 terrorist attacks and $70 million was given for 
Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
  Rolls-Royce chartered an 800-ton ferry to deliver masks, body bags 
and gloves to Indonesia, they partnered with London's HSBC Holdings 
bank to build a $500,000 clinic in Calang, on the coast of Indonesia. 
Calang lost nearly 90 percent of its 7,000 residents in the disaster. 
The clinic was completed within 9 weeks. Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay 
operating costs for a year. HSBC also donated money for six boats in 
Aceh and sent 30 employees to help rebuild a school.
  General Electric Co. shipped a water treatment plant to Aceh and 
along with CH2N Hill, ran the plant until April when they handed it 
over to UNIICEF and a local company.
  Intel Corporation along with other companies is planning to wire the 
city of Banda Aceh. In Lamreh, a German cigar company donated a water 
filtration system.
  Many companies gave cash to international aid agencies or 
governments, others donated in-kind products and services worth $139 
million in goods including powdered milk, back hoes, computers, shirts, 
sandals, packaged meats, hauling services, linens, fuel, generators, 
tractor equipment and emergency response services. Employees teamed up 
with the U.N. and local governments on training projects and started 
``Adopt a Village'' projects.
  FedEx Corporation shipped 640 tons of medicine, supplies and water 
systems for aid groups. PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte and Touche 
are working with the U.N. to protect tsunami donations.
  Phillips Foods Inc., a Baltimore-based seafood company donated 20 
boats to fishermen in three countries.
  Some other major U.S. companies contributing were Coca Cola, Exxon 
Mobil, GlaxoSmith Kline, Microsoft, Citigroup, Merck, AIG/Star and 
Abbot Laboratories.
  The American Chamber of Commerce of Indonesia established a Disaster 
Relief Center to coordinate donations and volunteer operations for 
rapid supply and logistics support.
  Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono thanked U.S. business 
leaders for their contributions to relief efforts. I want to thank them 
as well for their generosity, both financially and for taking time out 
of their busy lives to personally reach out to help others in distress. 
Their humanitarian efforts deserve our attention and gratitude.
  There are many others not mentioned in the Associated Press article 
that deserves our thanks. Their charitable efforts have not gone 
unnoticed.

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