E-Malt.com News article: USA: Anheuser-Busch and beer distributor BudCo donate $310,000 toward San Antonio downtown improvements

The Anheuser-Busch Cos. and its San Antonio beer distributor BudCo are working on a series of plans to help improve the San Antonio River, San Antonio Business Journal posted June 30.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) agreed to donate $160,000 to the San Antonio River Foundation.

The money will be used to help the foundation restore the footbridge from the former Lone Star brewery. Adolphus Busch established the brewery in the mid 1880s.

The reconstructed footbridge will be part of the ongoing beautification efforts along the river.

BudCo, in turn, recently donated land to the City of San Antonio valued at more than $150,000 to serve as a public park for the Hays Street Bridge. This also will be restored for pedestrians and cyclists on the opposite end of U.S. Highway 281 from the footbridge restoration project.

"The foundation is grateful for the donations by Anheuser-Busch and BudCo," San Antonio River Foundation President Edward E. Collins III says.

"The brewing industry has long played a key role in the history of San Antonio, and we are delighted to have the support of Anheuser-Busch in our efforts to enhance and preserve the waterways of our community," Collins adds.

BudCo is the local wholesale distributor of Budweiser and Bud Light. It currently controls 60 percent of the local beer market.

Anheuser-Busch also owns SeaWorld San Antonio.

"Anheuser-Busch believes in investing in the communities in which we do business," says Dan Decker, executive vice president and general manager of Anheuser-Busch's SeaWorld San Antonio.




05 July, 2006