(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on January 14, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eastern-U.S. rail giant CSX Transportation is telling employees it will match dollar for dollar any donations they make to the American Red Cross to aid earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
Spokesman Gary Sease said the railroad is also surveying the workforce for language specialty that could help in the crisis. “Our Hispanic Inclusion Group is asking employees to notify us if they speak Creole, the official language of Haiti, should assistance be needed,” he said.
CSX began the donation program on Thursday morning, Sease said, and gave workers a reference code that allows the company to know how much in Red Cross contribution levels it will need to match. The railroad has about 27,000 employees.
“We have been advised by disaster relief experts that the best way to help at this moment is to get needed financial assistance to the front-line agencies like American Red Cross,” Sease said. “We are continuing to evaluate other ways that we can assist in an effective and meaningful way,” he said.
CSX also posted, on an employee intranet site, a list of other relief agencies that could use funds or may have volunteer opportunities.