• by Tanya Gazdik , September 16, 2018

Several dozen companies are donating to help those affected by Hurricane Florence. 

The storm pummeled the Carolinas with strong winds, heavy rain and dangerous tidal surges. Twice the size of Louisiana, Florence is inundating communities and leaving hundreds of thousands without power, according to the American Red Cross. 

Donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.

Companies pledging to give $1 million include American Airlines, Anheuser-Busch Foundation, Anthem Foundation, Bank of America, Brown & Brown Insurance, The Clorox Company, Costco Wholesale, Delta Air Lines, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation, FedEx, The Home Depot Foundation,  Mazda North American Operations, Microsoft Corp., Nationwide Foundation, New Balance Athletics, State Farm and The Walt Disney Company.

Those pledging $500,000 include 21st Century Fox, Altria Group, AmazonSmile, American Express, Aon, Capital One, CBS Corporation, Cisco Foundation, Citi Foundation, Discover, Edison International,ord Motor Company, General Motors, Humble Bundle, IBM Corporation, International Paper, John Deere Foundation, JMerck Foundation, Mondelez International Foundation, Nissan, Procter & Gamble Company, PwC, Southwest Airlines, Target, United Airlines, UPS and Wells Fargo.

Disaster Responder Program members who have pledged at least $250,000 include 7-Eleven Cares Foundation,AT&T, Barclays, BMW of North America, Boise Paper, Choice Hotels International, DICK'S Sporting Goods, Farmers Insurance, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation, The J.M. Smucker Company, Land O'Lakes, Inc., Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Neiman Marcus Group, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Northwestern Mutual, Prudential Foundation, SC Johnson, Standard Textile, Toyota, U-Haul International, United Technologies Corporation, U.S. Bank and Visa.

The JCPenney Communities Foundation made a $50,000 donation to the American Red Cross.

Nissan, which recently kicked off a Titan pickup truck campaign highlighting its ongoing relationship with the disaster relief nonprofit, also set up a donation page for consumers to participate and is planning a Red Cross fundraiser Sept 20.

7-Eleven, Inc. is inviting customers to add $1 to their purchase at participating 7-Eleven® stores nationwide or to donate online.

Lowe's has committed $2 million to support relief efforts, with the Lowe's Emergency Command Center expediting more than 2,800 truckloads of needed supplies, including generators, bottled water, sand, plywood, chainsaws, trash bags, gas cans and tarps. 

Lowe's has also activated its American Red Cross Disaster Relief customer donation program on its website. Additionally, more than 400 associates, who have volunteered to be a part of Lowe's Employee Relief Teams, will deploy to areas hit hardest by the hurricane.

MillerCoors is donating 200,000 cans of water to those impacted by Hurricane Florence, to be distributed at the Red Cross and community shelters.

The PepsiCo Foundation is donating $1 million in grants to relief agencies and 350,000 meals to communities affected by the hurricane. PetSmart charities is pledging up to $1 million in grants to support designated responding agencies working on the front lines to help pets and pet families in need in the areas affected by Hurricane Florence.

Walmart and Sam's Club are launching a customer campaign to assist impacted communities with hurricane relief. Walmart is matching customer donations to Foundation For The Carolinas up to $5 million for disaster response and recovery.

Webster Bank will donate $35,000 to the American Red Cross to support disaster recovery efforts for communities affected by Hurricane Florence and recent gas line explosions in Massachusetts' Merrimack Valley. 

CompTIA, a technology association, launched a fundraising effort, and through its CompTIA Giving charitable endeavor will match all contributions up to a total of $100,000.

Charter Communications is making a $350,000 contribution to Rebuilding Together to support relief efforts and specifically assist with home repairs and renovations needed.

Cuebiq is providing its aggregated and anonymous mobile location data to Gasbuddy, which provides updates about wait lines at gas stations to partner fuel brands and government emergency agencies to help those evacuating.