Companies Give Money, Cars and Water for Hurricane Relief

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Corporate America is stepping up to bail out those hurt by Hurricane Sandy.

Car company General Motors (GM) said today it would donate 50 Silverado trucks and Express cargo vans to the American Red Cross to use in recovery efforts across the East Coast. Swiss food company Nestle delivered pallets of water, Red Cross spokeswoman Anne Marie Borrego said.

Some companies donate $500,000 to the Annual Disaster Giving Program -- including Lowe's (LOW), Home Depot (HD) and Wal-Mart (WMT) -- that the humanitarian organization uses in the event of disasters such as hurricanes.

"It is during disasters like this that we all need to pull together as a country, and Chevrolet has a role in that," General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said in a statement. "Making these vehicles available quickly where they can do the most good is something we can do right now." The carmaker said its GM Foundation donated $250,000 to the Red Cross for relief efforts.

In New York, Hurricane Sandy led to the deaths of 10 people, flooded subway tunnels, triggered a fire that burned to the ground several dozen homes in the borough of Queens and left almost 1 million people without power.

The Red Cross' Borrego said Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C), two companies that donate to the annual fund, already have given additional contributions, without disclosing the amounts.

President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney each emailed supporters and asked them to pledge money to the American Red Cross to help hurricane-relief efforts.

Donation records from foreign countries to the American Red Cross weren't immediately available.

-- Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

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