Wal-Mart partners up for relief of flooding in Mexico
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007
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- · Wal-Mart partners up for relief of flooding in Mexico (11-16-2007)
- Retailers nation wide quick to embrace ‘green’ attitude (10-01-2007)
ROGERS — Wal-Mart Stores announced Thursday a partnership aimed at economic recovery efforts in the flooddamaged Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas.
Thousands of people were displaced or injured when the two states were damaged by heavy rains in the wake of Hurricane Noel’s path through the Gulf of Mexico in October.
The Wal-Mart Foundation and Fundación Wal-Mart de Mexico each contributed $ 300, 000, which will be matched by $ 600, 000 of funding from the United Nations Development Program. The $ 1. 2 million of total funding will be administered through Seattle-based World Vision, a Christian relief organization.
Little Rock-based Mexican Consul Andres Chao accepted the check alongside Aracelli Trujillo Vazquez, a Tabasco native who now lives in Centerton, at a presentation held at the Arkansas World Trade Center in Rogers.
“ What people often don’t think about is, after the initial relief effort takes place, what’s the long term impact on those people ? ” said Zack Aspegren, executive director for World Vision. “ We need to make sure these people have a sustainable lifestyle. ”
The grant funding will be channeled through the SCALE recovery project, an acronym for Sustainable Community Agriculture Livestock and Economic recovery. The program will fund large-scale efforts, such as strengthening and rebuilding infrastructure. It will also provide micro-enterprise loans for farmers and smallbusiness owners and help to provide trade networks for their products, Aspegren said.
Wal-Mart has “ a lot at stake” in the region, said Ray Bracy, senior vice president of state, federal and international corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Stores. After Hurricane Noel brought floods to the region, 1 million people were displaced, he said. One in four of the 3, 500 Wal-Mart employees in the area were displaced, 400 of which have not yet been located. Wal-Mart de Mexico has promised jobs to all of its displaced associates in the country. “ For many of these people, that’s all they have is a place to work, ” Bracy said.
Since the floods first started, Wal-Mart de Mexico has been working hard to support those affected, channeling more than 944 tons of in-kind donations for flood victims.
The company chose to support long-term redevelopment efforts to bring the agricultural economy back to a more stable point, Bracy said. Wal-Mart de Mexico partners with local farmers to put products of regional interest into its stores. He compared the relief work to the investment that Wal-Mart made in the post-Hurricane-Katrina South.
Chao set up a bank account to assist in relief efforts two weeks ago, and he has since welcomed dozens of donations, some as small as a few dollars. He welcomed the partnership to help rebuild the country.
“ We need to build bridges instead of fences, ” Chao said.
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