Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc. and its philanthropic arm, the PepsiCo Foundation, are donating $300,000 to support international relief efforts in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina following massive flooding that has caused widespread devastation and destruction. In addition to this financial commitment, the company is donating 1.5 tons of its products to help the more than 1 million people in need.
The donated resources will be allocated to the American Red Cross International Response Fund and the World Food Programme (WFP) for relief efforts on the ground. Specifically, through the American Red Cross, the PepsiCo Foundation is supporting the Red Cross of Serbia and the Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina with $100,000. Both Red Cross organizations are actively engaged in rescue operations, providing essential food and non-food items to those affected as well as helping to set up centers and temporary accommodations for those evacuated. Relief efforts are being hampered by destroyed infrastructure, broken telecommunications, power outages and difficult conditions in the field. This is the third response operation the Serbian Red Cross has been involved in this year.
The PepsiCo Foundation is providing $100,000 to the WFP. Part of the United Nations (UN) system, the WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Under the Immediate Response-Emergency Operations for Serbia, the WFP airlifted life-saving non-food items to Belgrade within 36 hours from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi, Italy, where a strategic stockpile of relief items are prepositioned for immediate response. This was the first UN assistance received for the flood response. The WFP continues to provide aid to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina with additional deliveries.
PepsiCo's business unit in the West Balkans, Marbo, is supporting the Red Cross of Serbia and the Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina with $100,000. The company also donated 1.5 tons of finished goods last weekend to the Red Cross of Serbia and the Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina and coordinated a local campaign for employees to donate food, goods, hygiene products, milk and other basic necessities. In addition, trucks and drivers were made available to transport boots, pillows, blankets and other charitable goods.
The PepsiCo Foundation will collaborate with agency partners in the coming months to assess the deployment of the relief committed and potential needs in the future.
