E-Malt.com News article: USA: Living Lands & Waters & Anheuser-Busch to clean St. Louis riverfront

Living Lands & Waters (LL&W) will join forces with Anheuser-Busch for the fifth consecutive year to help clean up and beautify the St. Louis riverfront, according to A-B’s press room, July 10.

At 9 a.m., Saturday, July 14, Anheuser-Busch employees and family members will volunteer their time to pick up litter on the banks of the Mississippi River and plant shrubs and wild flowers along the riverfront trail, the Jefferson Memorial Arch grounds and several local parks. Many other local environmental organizations will join with Anheuser-Busch and LL&W to make this event a success, including the City of St. Louis, National Park Service, Operation Brightside, Missouri River Relief, Trailnet, Open Space Council, Downtown St. Louis Partnership, Grace Hill and Missouri Stream Team. In addition, many other companies and organizations have contributed resources to this effort, including Grey Eagle Distributing, Lohr Distributing, Illinois Distributing, Bass Pro Shop, BJC Health Center, Rio Creative and 106.5 The Arch.

The event will kickoff at the cobblestones by the riverfront with a welcome by St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay. “It is great to see Living Lands & Waters working with local groups and the employees of Anheuser-Busch to clean the St. Louis riverfront and help beautify the area,” said Mayor Slay. “The riverfront and Mississippi River are internationally recognized icons for the City of St. Louis and it is through the generous efforts of the volunteers, companies and organizations that we are able to help protect these valuable resources.”

The Living Lands & Waters crew will take volunteers by boat to different spots along the river to clean the shoreline. All of the litter collected from the cleanup will be placed on LL&W’s barge, and later separated and recycled or taken to a landfill.

“I am thrilled to be working with Anheuser-Busch and all the local groups they’ve assembled for this cleanup,” said Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters. “Anheuser-Busch has been one of LL&W’s longtime national sponsors, and I am privileged to be working with their employees, along with their local St. Louis partners, to clean the Mississippi River and surrounding areas.”

“Protecting the environment and giving back to the communities in which we operate has been a part of Anheuser-Busch’s tradition for more than 150 years,” said John Kaestner, vice president of Consumer Affairs for Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. “Anheuser-Busch and its employees are proud to partner with Living Lands & Waters to support its mission and help protect our nation’s rivers, especially the majestic Mississippi River right here in our backyard.”

Living Lands & Waters, founded by Chad Pregracke in 1998 as a one-man operation, is headquartered in East Moline, Ill. Today, he and his crew of nine work full-time on their house-barge cleaning the Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Anacostia, and Potomac rivers. In addition, LL&W plants trees to stabilize shorelines, runs the Adopt-a-Mississippi River Mile program, and conducts workshops that educate people about the importance of keeping the river system clean. Pregracke has been honored by First Lady Laura Bush and profiled in mainstream media including CNN, NBC Nightly News, People, Reader’s Digest and Time. For more information regarding LL&W and their ongoing projects, visit www.livinglandsandwaters.org.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser‑Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.4 percent share of U.S. beer sales. The company brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser‑Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer, and a 27 percent share in China brewer Tsingtao, whose namesake beer brand is the country’s best-selling premium beer. Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine’s Most Admired U.S. and Global Companies lists in 2007. Anheuser‑Busch is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world’s largest recyclers of aluminum cans. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.


13 July, 2007