Several tire industry companies pledged donations to help hurricane victims, including:
Bridgestone Corp. and Bridgestone Americas Inc., which donated $1 million to the American Red Cross. The funding is intended to support relief and recovery efforts across impacted areas, including Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, key states in regions where Bridgestone has thousands of employees, customers and business partners, the company said.
In addition to the American Red Cross donation, Bridgestone Americas is redirecting a portion of its annual Nashville, Tenn.-area United Way campaign allocation to United Way relief efforts in Texas.
Bridgestone Americas' internal Employee Assistance Funds, built through annual employee giving, has allocated more than $400,000 to help teammates procure temporary housing and necessities, such as food, bottled water and building supplies. Bridgestone said more than 200 employees have received support from the fund.
To date, hundreds of Bridgestone employees have experienced losses or damages to their homes, the company said. Bridgestone has approximately 6,000 employees at more than 500 retail stores, manufacturing facilities and several distribution centers in the affected areas of Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
RNR Tire Express & Custom Wheels (RNR) announced that throughout September, RNR locations across the nation will contribute $1 of each tire and wheel sale to support the brand's relief initiative for Texas and Florida. The proceeds collected at the end of the month will be donated by each franchise location to the organization of choice, including the American Red Cross, Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, Hurricane Irma Relief Fund, among others, the firm said.
RNR, with 20 franchised stores in Florida, said some stores suffered damaged flooring and lost windows and signs during Hurricane Irma, along with some power outages.
One of the four RNR stores in the Houston area was too damaged from flooding to reopen, so its operations were shifted to another store, the company said.
ATD created a GoFundMe account through which its employees helped raise about $25,000 for hurricane victims, the company said.
TBC Corp. said several of its Tire Kingdom stores in Florida were offering free flat repairs and 25-percent discounts on wiper blades for customers while a number of NTB locations in Texas were offering free flat repairs and battery checks for flooding victims.
Driven Brands Inc. is encouraging its franchisees, employees, vendor partners and customers to donate to the Driven Brands Charitable Foundation (DBCF) site or any of the participating brand websites. Proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross relief efforts in both states.
Driven Brands' participating entities include CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts, Maaco, Meineke Car Care Centers, Take 5 Oil Change, Havoline Express Lube and 1-800 Radiator & AC. Driven Brands also operates Merlin 200,000 Mile Shops, Econo Lube N' Tune, Pro Oil and Drive N Style.
Driven Brands has more than 50 franchised locations in the Houston area — including 20-plus Meineke stores — most of which suffered only minimal damage during Hurricane Harvey and are open for business, according to the company.
In Florida, there are some 160 locations, including more than 40 Meineke stores.