Media Coverage

Sept 03, 2005
Area Businesses Pitch in to Help

Donations poured out of Charleston-based companies Friday, as continuous television footage of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts -- and the lack thereof -- continued for the fourth full day.
Charity efforts ranged from big one-time cash donations to grassroots efforts such as drives for blood and drinking water.

Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier, a Columbia-based law firm with an office here, pledged $50,000 to the effort and promised to match employee donations up to $50,000. James Doran Co., a Daniel Island-based development firm, and the Humanities Foundation®, a Charleston-based nonprofit focused on affordable housing, also gave $50,000 each.

Led by Chef Ciaran Duffy of Tristan restaurant, a coalition of almost 50 area dining places pledged 10 percent of their proceeds on Sept. 10 to the American Red Cross. About 30 restaurants raised close to $10,000 with a similar initiative after the December tsunami in Asia.

Charleston Place is hoping to raise $60,000 with a benefit gala on Sept. 11 or Sept. 16. Some 15 local restaurants will donate their chefs and food. Guests will be encouraged to pay with $150 checks made out to the Red Cross, according to Mickey Bakst, general manager of the Charleston Grill.

"I don't have any family down there, but I've got a whole lot of restaurant friends in New Orleans," Bakst said. "When I look at the TV, my heart feels like something is lost. It makes you want to cry, you know?"

The Mount Pleasant Waterworks is holding a blood drive at its Rifle Range Road offices Sept. 6. Waste Industries of Summerville and Bulldog Express have both donated tractor-trailers to haul fresh water and other supplies to the affected areas.

Pentair Inc., a Minnesota-based company that makes water filters and pumps, has poured $240,000 into Charleston-based Water Missions International. The local nonprofit is using the funds to ship 13 water-treatment systems to the Gulf Coast.

Glasspro Inc., a Mount Pleasant-based auto glass chain that operates a car wash in Goose Creek, said it will donate all of its car wash revenue from Friday through Monday to the Red Cross for hurricane relief.

Curt Weeden, president of the Mount Pleasant-based Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals, said this week's corporate philanthropy has been less than that seen after Sept. 11 and the December tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Weeden's association tracks the gifts of 50 of the country's biggest companies. By Friday morning they had pledged $46.4 million, but many of the donations were half as big as those following the tsunami.

Weeden said a lot of companies plan to space their philanthropy out over time. But he noted that some already had exhausted their annual charity funds for the year in January. Others have lost their own assets in the storm or are holding money a few more weeks in anticipation of another hurricane.

Over time, Weeden expects U.S. businesses to pour out $100 million to ravaged communities on the Gulf Coast.

"The visual stuff coming across the television is so powerful that it almost forces any corporation into doing something," he said. "There's very little science in the business of giving, but we know emotion plays a huge role and it doesn't get more powerful than what we've just seen."