DECATUR, IL, Feb. 24, 2011 -- Archer Daniels Midland Company today announced a donation of $325,000 to Living Lands & Waters, a nonprofit organization that promotes the health and vitality of the nation's inland waterways. The donation is being made through ADM Cares, the company's social-investment program.
"Helping clean up the Mississippi River is important to the 18 million people who depend on the river for drinking water. It's also important to ADM because we depend on the U.S. waterways to ship grain from American farms to where it's needed around the world," said Royce Wilken, president, American River Transportation Company, a subsidiary of ADM. "Beyond our financial support, ADM employees have also dedicated thousands of volunteer hours to cleaning the Mississippi River and other major U.S. waterways in collaboration with Living Lands & Waters."
"ADM has been a valued partner of Living Lands & Waters since 2004," said Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters. "In addition to the financial support that helps us operate, we are thankful for the hard work and enthusiasm of the hundreds of ADM employees who have given their time to help with our river cleanups throughout the years."
ADM's donation includes $125,000 to support ongoing river cleanup and restoration projects and $200,000 to expand the organization's floating classroom program. The floating classroom, a barge made from materials reclaimed from the river and from other renewable materials, serves as a facility for students and teachers to study environmental issues associated with large rivers. The mobile classroom will visit several states each year along the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers.
"Education is crucial to the preservation of our great river system and all natural resources," said Jennifer Ballinger, manager, ADM Cares. "Through the floating classroom project, Living Lands & Waters reaches hundreds of high school students every year, giving them a memorable, personal encounter that we hope will inspire future stewardship and long-term preservation of our nation's waterways."
ADM Cares is a corporate social-investment program that directs up to one percent of ADM's pretax profits to initiatives and organizations that drive meaningful social, economic and environmental progress worldwide. The program comprises three distinct areas of focus: supporting the responsible development of agriculture, improving the quality of life in ADM communities and fostering employee giving and volunteer activities.
About Living Lands & Waters
Living Lands & Waters is a 501 (c) (3) environmental organization established by Chad Pregracke in 1998 and headquartered in East Moline, Ill. Living Lands & Waters conducts a variety of initiatives including Community River Cleanups, Big River Educational Workshops, the MillionTrees Project, the Riverbottom Forest Restoration Project and Adopt-a-River Mile.
About ADM
Every day, the 29,000 people of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) turn crops into renewable products that meet the demands of a growing world. At more than 240 processing plants, we convert corn, oilseeds, wheat and cocoa into products for food, animal feed, chemical and energy uses. We operate the world's premier crop origination and transportation network, connecting crops and markets in more than 60 countries. Our global headquarters is in Decatur, Illinois, and our net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, were $62 billion. For more information about our company and our products, visit www.adm.com.
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