DEERFIELD, Ill., Nov. 8, 2011 - Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) is donating nearly $400,000 worth of personal care items to the United Service Organizations (USO) to support operations in Landstuhl, Germany. The organization is focused on lifting the spirits of the nation’s wounded warriors and their families. The donation includes first aid items, toiletries, diapers and baby bottles, as well as coloring books, gum and playing cards. The donation was shipped in late October and should arrive by Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11.
The items will support the USO Warrior Center at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the nearest treatment center for wounded soldiers coming from Iraq and Afghanistan. The donation will also support other area USO centers in Ramstein and Stuttgart.
“We’re sending these necessities and well wishes to American troops and families overseas as a way to say ‘thank you’ for all that they do,” said Walgreens community affairs director John Gremer. “These items are products many need and use and we hope they’ll help make life a little easier.”
“USO Europe is honored to serve our nation’s service members as they deploy as well as welcome them home from combat zones,” said Walt Murren, Regional Vice-President of USO Europe. “This generous donation from Walgreens will further our mission of supporting our nation’s wounded warriors and bringing a touch of home to those who sacrifice so much.”
Walgreens has a long history of supporting American troops and veterans, from providing a store in the Pentagon beginning in the 1940s, to decades of donation and product drives, and extending company benefits to employees called to active service. Under the Walgreens military leave policy, employees called to active service receive their full salary, less military pay, for 42 months from the last day worked. In addition, they have the option of continuing medical, prescription and dental coverage at active employee rates.
About Walgreens:
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion. The company operates 7,786 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.
About The USO:
The USO (United Service Organizations) lifts the spirits of America’s troops and their families millions of times each year at hundreds of places worldwide. We provide a touch of home through centers at airports and military bases, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services. We also provide critical support to those who need us most, including forward-deployed troops and their families, wounded warriors and their families and the families of the fallen.
The USO is a private, non-profit organization, not a government agency. We rely on the generosity of our volunteers and donors. In addition to individual donors and corporate sponsors, the USO is supported by President’s Circle Partners: American Airlines and TriWest Healthcare Alliance and Worldwide Strategic Partners: AT&T Inc., BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, Clear Channel Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Procter & Gamble. We are also supported through the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381). To join us in this patriotic mission, and to learn more about the USO, please visit http://www.uso.org.
Walgreens
Vivika Panagiotakakos, (847) 315-2923
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