General Mills Supports Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts; In Addition to $2 Million of Foundation Support, Employees Rally with Their Own Effort

Business Wire, Sept 8, 2005

MINNEAPOLIS -- General Mills has committed $2 million in food products and relief aid to help with disaster relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.

Every week for the next six months, two semi-trailer trucks of General Mills food products will be transported to affected areas through America's Second Harvest, which is working with the American Red Cross to distribute product.

In addition to the $1 million in product donations, the General Mills Foundation will contribute $1 million in relief aid. This includes a $100,000 contribution already made to the American Red Cross and up to $100,000 dedicated to matching contributions from General Mills employees and retirees.

"The magnitude of this disaster has touched all of us," said Ellen Luger, executive director, General Mills Foundation. "We want to reach out to the people in the Gulf Coast to help with both immediate and long-term needs."

The General Mills Foundation Board of Trustees will determine over the course of the next few weeks the most pressing needs for the remainder of the relief aid.

"We want to help immediately, and also want to support the long-term needs of the people in the affected areas," said Luger. "We know that rebuilding lives is not a short- term process."

In addition to the support of the General Mills Foundation, General Mills employees have also rallied to deliver personal care products to evacuees in shelters across the country. The brainchild of Jessica Neuman, an administrative assistant in General Mills national customer service operations, the effort was embraced by the company's nearly 6,000 Minneapolis area and headquarters employees. In less than one day, employees filled a semi-trailer truck with donated items such as toothpaste, soap, deodorant, diapers and formula.

"More than 70 percent of our employees volunteer in their communities, so I knew there would be support for an effort like this," said Neuman. "I started out asking people to drop items off in my office. I had no idea we would need a semi to handle the volume of the donated products!"

General Mills is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods products, with annual worldwide net sales of $12.5 billion. The General Mills Foundation, celebrating more than 50 years of giving, is a champion for a stronger community. In fiscal 2005, General Mills awarded $78 million to communities across the country. The amount represents more than 5 percent of company pretax profits in fiscal 2005. Of that total, the Foundation contributed $20 million in grants in the targeted areas of youth nutrition and fitness, social services, education, and arts and culture. For its work in communities nationwide, General Mills received the Summit Award for Social Impact from The Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2004, Business Week ranked the company No. 6 in the "most generous cash givers" category for corporate philanthropy.