Walgreens pledges $250,000 toward disaster recovery, re-opens two-thirds of pharmacies in area

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday pledged $250,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to supplement the organization's support of East Coast communities recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

The company also is donating three semitrailer truckloads of bottled water to a Red Cross facility in New Brunswick, N.J., to distribute throughout the disaster area. Walgreens stores in the region also are donating merchandise in response to community requests that have come in since the storm’s impact.

Walgreens continues its effort to serve customers by reopening stores, keeping 24-hour stores in operation and restocking shelves. By 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the 750 stores initially closed due to the storm had reopened, leaving only 239 still closed. More than a dozen were open without power, and 55 were open despite light or moderate damage. Numerous stores are operating with electric generators, 180 of which were stationed in advance of the storm for rapid deployment. 

Walgreens has nearly 1,400 stores in the impacted area.

Major Walgreens distribution centers, including facilities in Windsor, Conn., Bethlehem, Penn., and Maspeth, N.Y. — the latter serving Duane Reade stores — have full power restored and are operating.

Store status information is regularly updated throughout the emergency and is available online at http://news.walgreens.com.