As bushfires rage across Australia, the Caterpillar Foundation is making a $250,000 donation to the Australian Red Cross to aid in relief efforts. The unprecedented fires have taken lives, destroyed homes and devastated millions of acres of land and the region’s wildlife.
“Our hearts go out to the people of Australia as they endure this devastating crisis,” said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “While our employees, dealers and customers live and work throughout Australia, the Caterpillar Foundation is making this donation to support recovery for all. The longstanding partnership between the foundation and the Red Cross has demonstrated the organization’s exceptional ability to swiftly put relief donations to work in the areas they’re needed most.”
The foundation is also matching employee, retiree and dealer employee contributions to the American Red Cross. Find out how to get a Caterpillar match for your donation.
Cat dealers on the ground are assisting relief efforts with both financial and product support. They are providing rental equipment and on-call field service for equipment used in the crisis efforts. And Cat customers, as always, are there every step of the way to aid in recovery missions.
The Caterpillar Foundation, philanthropic arm of Caterpillar Inc., is a member of the American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP). This program provides a funding base that allows the Red Cross to respond immediately to the needs of individuals and families impacted by disasters. This model has proven to be efficient and effective in immediately meeting disaster relief needs, ensuring the Red Cross has the funds to prepare for disasters before they occur.
The American Red Cross ARC has a strong history of collaboration with the Australian Red Cross and has proactively reached out to offer support, whether through trained specialists, operations leadership and guidance or financial assistance to support the response and material resources. The Foundation’s investment ensures the ARC is able to offer these things and more including – having a trained roster of staff able to deploy for weeks at a time, supplies stocked in three warehouses strategically placed around the world and financial resources to quickly respond to international disasters.
