HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 12, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Worldwide industrial services and products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that it is making cash contributions totaling more than $100,000 to provide immediate and direct support to the ongoing tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia.
Harsco Chairman, President and CEO Derek C. Hathaway said the company will be involving its local operations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to target funds directly to the most urgent needs of the region's relief and reconstruction efforts, and will also be supporting a team of U.S.-based physicians and surgeons that will be departing for Thailand this month to provide much-needed relief and assistance to in-country doctors and their staffs who have been attending to the urgent needs of the disaster victims. The funds will be distributed from the Harsco Corporation Fund charitable giving arm.
"The relief of human suffering is a priority, and Harsco's significant presence in this region provides us with a local resource through which we are channeling a prompt and effective response," said Mr. Hathaway.
The medical team is being led by Dr. Domingo Alvear, a Harrisburg-based pediatric surgeon and president of the World Surgical Foundation, a volunteer organization of prominent surgeons and physicians that provides free medical services, training and equipment to indigent people around the world. Mr. Hathaway said that Harsco's intent is to underwrite the team's out-of-pocket expenses for the shipment of critical medical supplies and set-up of operations through equal gifts of $25,000 each from Harsco and the Hathaway family.
The contributions are the latest in Harsco's ongoing support of a number of community advancement and human service initiatives which in the past year alone has totaled well over $1 million, and nearly $6 million over the past five years. Through the Harsco Corporation Fund, the company has taken multi-year, lead donor positions sponsoring key initiatives in education, children and youth development, people with disabilities, and advanced medical research. These include:
$500,000 Harrisburg School System Early Childhood
Development Initiative
$500,000 Goodwill Industries, for creation of the
Jeffrey J. Burdge campus
$500,000 The ALS Association, for advanced medical
research leading to a cure for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
$250,000 The American Air Museum in Britain, dedicated
to honoring the 30,000 U.S. airmen who gave
their lives protecting Britain during the
Second World War
$200,000 Boy Scouts of America, Keystone Council for
major camp improvement initiatives
$150,000 The Arc of Dauphin and Lebanon Counties, for
creation of the Harsco Center to serve people
with mental retardation
$150,000 Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum initiative
for public education regarding the American Civil War
In addition, the Company sponsors several ongoing initiatives in the arts and higher education fields, and is a founding sponsor of the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, where it has underwritten the creation of the Harsco Science Center through gifts totaling more than $1 million.
Harsco Corporation is a diversified, worldwide industrial services and engineered products company with annual sales of approximately $2.5 billion. Harsco's market-leading businesses provide mill services, access services, gas containment and control technologies, and engineered products and services to customers worldwide. The company employs 18,000 people in more than 40 countries of operation. Additional information about Harsco can be found at http://www.harsco.com
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