As part of a national partnership, the MillerCoors Brewery in Trenton, Ohio, is packaging more than two million cans of drinking water over the next three years for the American Red Cross to help individuals impacted by disasters.

Each year, the Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters across the country, including home fires, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and wildfires. The water canned at the MillerCoors Brewery is being made available during these disasters to requesting relief agencies, in coordination with the Red Cross, to ensure that clean water is provided to people in need.

“Providing clean water during a disaster is one of the most urgent and important needs,” says Patricia Smitson, CEO of the Greater Cincinnati-Dayton Region of the American Red Cross. “Often drinking water becomes contaminated or inaccessible after a disaster, but the basic human need for water doesn’t diminish. Having these cans of clean water provided by MillerCoors allows the Red Cross to meet the basic humanitarian needs of those impacted by a disaster during a very critical time.”

Red Cross services are provided to people in need of assistance at no cost and regardless of income through the generosity of Red Cross donors—including corporate donors, such as MillerCoors.

MillerCoors has a long history of providing financial support to Red Cross dating back prior to the launch of MillerCoors in 2008, says Denise Quinn, Trenton Brewery Plant Manager. Leveraging its employees’ time and talent to produce and distribute clean water is the next step to better provide help to communities in need.

“The Trenton Brewery was proud to be selected to produce canned water for humanitarian relief,” says Quinn. “Participating in the community as a true partner is the right thing to do, especially when there's a disaster that affects our friends, neighbors and family members from having safe drinking water to consume.”

Although the packaging of the water is being done in Trenton, the partnership between the Red Cross and MillerCoors is being made at a national level and includes Ball Corp., which manufacturers the cans, and Graphic Packaging International, which handles the packaging of the product. Ball’s philanthropic arm, The Ball Foundation, already provides financial support to the Red Cross in advance of major disasters as a Disaster Responder member.