HANOVER, Germany (Aug. 12, 2014) — Continental A.G. is donating nearly $100,000 to causes lending assistance for victims of the recent floods in Serbia, where the company has about 700 employees at two plants.
On June 4 the firm gave $68,000 to relief organization Help—Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe eV—which is organizing a fundraising campaign together with the German–Serbian Trade Association, the Delegation of the German Economy, the German Embassy in Serbia, and the Deutschland Serbien forum.
“Continental has close ties with the country and wants to make a contribution toward its reconstruction,” said Heinz-Gerhard Wente, member of Conti's executive board.
In addition, employees and management of the ContiTech plant in Subotica, Serbia, have donated approximately $15,000 to the Serbian Red Cross. A further $13,500 is going to the Continental employees personally affected by the flooding.
“Seven of our employees in Serbia have lost their homes as well as all of their belongings as a result of the floods,” said Danilo Vujosevic, general manager of the ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group in Serbia. “The affected employees have received financial aid and in-kind donations, quickly and with minimal red tape, to help them rebuild their homes.”
Continental operates a conveyor belt plant in Veliki Crljeni and a hose plant in Subotica. Both locations were spared from any direct damage as a result of the flooding, which only caused a power failure and therefore production downtime in the conveyor belt plant.
This report appeared in European Rubber Journal, a UK-based sister publication of Tire Business.