Sheetz Contributes Over $500,000 to Katrina Relief Effort

"I couldn¹t be more proud of our employees," President and CEO Stan Sheetz said in a press release. "Over the past week, we have received correspondence from Sheetz employees at all levels, across all 316 stores, the corporate offices, the distribution center and our drivers, expressing an overwhelming sentiment to do something for the victims of Katrina. Our employees wanted us to take funds we had allocated for programs and events designed to reward them for their hard work over the year, and use that money for Katrina relief efforts."

Sheetz will send a check for $316,000, that's $1,000 per store, to the Red Cross. In addition, Sheetz is sending four to five of their distribution center trucks to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to bring fresh food and beverages to a center that is feeding 20,000 people a day, through churches and small rescue centers.

"Our hearts go out to the families who have been so hard hit by this disaster. We want to do whatever we can to help," said Ray Ryan, VP of distribution, at the Sheetz distribution center in Claysburg, where the first of the trucks headed for the Gulf Coast is being loaded with eggs, muffins, buns, deli meats, and more. The company will be sending over $200,000 worth of food and beverages to help with relief efforts, with each refrigerated food truck carrying about 83,000 individual meals. The first truck is scheduled to leave at 9 a.m. Thursday, September 8.

Sheetz has also begun fundraising efforts in their retail locations. Sheetz customers can now donate to hurricane Katrina relief efforts through change boxes placed conveniently near the cash registers in all 316 Sheetz convenience stores. One hundred percent of all the contributions collected will be given to the Red Cross for aid to the victims of the Katrina disaster.

The widespread damage of Hurricane Katrina has caused the Red Cross to launch the largest mobilization of resources for a single domestic natural disaster. The Red Cross is mobilizing every available resource from across the country including thousands of staff and volunteers and more than 250 emergency response vehicles to provide food and water to affected residents. Volunteers are already on the ground staffing shelters for tens of thousands of people in five states‹Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas.