PASCAGOULA, Miss., Feb. 6, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- A dedicated group of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) shipbuilders offered their construction skills to support rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast communities this week. These employees, who normally perform traditional shipbuilding crafts such as welding, pipefitting and shipfitting, framed doors, nailed floors and hung sheetrock in Jackson County, Mississippi's storm-damaged United Way headquarters.
Photos accompanying this news release are available at: http://media.primezone.com/noc/
Assisting the United Way continues to be a top priority for Northrop Grumman. The corporation donated $250,000 to the local United Way group in south Mississippi and that money will be used as part of the organization's community impact grant program. Following Hurricane Katrina, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems sector's employees pledged $428,686 to United Way for its work in 2006. The United Way program's main purpose in 2006 will be to help the neediest residents recover from Katrina.
"This is a great project," said Terrell Crook, a chipper at the company's Pascagoula facility. "I get the chance to utilize my carpentry skills and help out some organizations that suffered from Katrina."
A group of Northrop Grumman executives assisted in the cause this week, while visiting the Ship Systems sector on business. This group left their business meeting, changed into jeans and T-shirts and helped in the rebuilding of the community's United Way headquarters.
"This is a wonderful opportunity to help victims of Hurricane Katrina," said Larry Tant, project manager for the company's Integrated Systems sector in Bethpage, N.Y. "We've all been looking for ways to show our support and this is a great way we can do that."
The work group was organized by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' new community relations council, which is committed to focusing volunteer recovery efforts by its shipbuilders all along the Gulf Coast. The group will tackle other community-restoration projects for the foreseeable future.
"As the largest manufacturing employer in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana, we have an obligation to our communities to help them get back on their feet," said Debbie McLendon, community relations manager for Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. "These employees have stepped up with energetic attitudes to support the cause. With so many contractors tied up on other projects, our services will better facilitate the rebuilding process."
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems includes primary operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.; and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La., as well as in a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan. Ship Systems is one of the nation's leading full-service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction and life-cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies.
