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Mag Instrument Renews Partnership with American Red Cross
Flashlights help families prepare for emergencies
WASHINGTON, Tuesday, January 10, 2006 — The American Red Cross today announced the renewal of its partnership with Mag Instrument, maker of Maglite® flashlights, the world’s leading premium flashlights, to build awareness and support for its lifesaving programs and services, including the Red Cross Together We Prepare initiative. Mag Instrument has committed an additional $250,000 to the Red Cross to extend the partnership through August 2008.
“I am thrilled that Mag Instrument has renewed their commitment to the Together We Prepare program,” said Kathleen Loehr, Interim Senior Vice President for Development at the American Red Cross. “For many Americans, Hurricane Katrina highlighted the need to be prepared for a disaster, but partners like Mag Instrument have been helping us prepare individuals and communities for years.”
The Together We Prepare initiative, a nationwide campaign first launched in February 2003, challenges people to take five proactive steps to help them make their families, schools, neighborhoods and workplaces safer. The five simple steps include: make a plan, build a kit, get trained, volunteer and give blood. While the partnership with Mag Instrument is designed to build awareness for the entire program, it focuses on the second step: build a kit. The company’s U.S. flashlight packaging provides consumers with a helpful checklist of items to include in a disaster supplies kit. When evacuating or sheltering in place, a disaster supplies kit can save lives. One important component of a disaster supplies kit is a flashlight.
Through this partnership, Mag Instrument has also helped raise awareness of the Together We Prepare initiative by providing critical Red Cross emergency preparedness information on point of purchase displays, TV advertising and programming, and the Mag Instrument web site (www.maglite.com). Mag Instrument has committed a total of $750,000 to the Red Cross in support of this partnership since 2003.
"It seemed only natural," said Mag Instrument's President, Tony Maglica, "for us to sponsor this program. You want the items in your disaster kit to work reliably in an emergency, and our flashlights are engineered to stand up to the roughest conditions. Besides, I've always admired the American Red Cross. They symbolize the American volunteer spirit. They're some of the most experienced disaster-response people around. And I know that money given to them will go where it does real good. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. I've been in business a long time, I know a thing or two about efficiency, and that really impresses me."
As a further commitment to the organization’s lifesaving work, Mag Instrument and its employees also donated generously to the American Red Cross to help families and communities recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With the support of individuals and corporations, such as Mag Instrument, the Red Cross is able to help the victims of more than 70,000 disasters each year – disasters ranging from house fires to tornadoes and other widespread catastrophes, including the devastating hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast earlier this year. These types of events, along with an awareness of national security threats over the last few years, have sharpened the focus on a need for increased national preparedness.
The Mag Instrument® flashlights including the Red Cross emergency preparedness information are offered to national and regional retailers across the United States.
About Mag Instrument
Mag Instrument manufactures all of its flashlights in Ontario, California. Its products include the Maglite®, Mag Charger®, Mini Maglite® and Solitaire® flashlights. With their superior quality and durability, Mag Instrument® flashlights have been renowned worldwide since 1979 as the best engineered and most reliable line of flashlights. They have long been favorites of law enforcement, rescue workers and the military.
Mag Instrument has donated thousands of flashlights to aid in the search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center and Pentagon crash sites, to the Oklahoma City Red Cross to help rescue workers in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, and to troops fighting in the Gulf War. More information about Mag Instrument can be found at (www.maglite.com.
The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.
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