[StBernard] Wal-Mart Gives $100,000 Donation To St. Bernard Parish

[Westley Annis]

The Wal-Mart Foundation, a non-profit arm of the Wal-Mart chain, presented a
$100,000 check to St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior'' Rodriguez on
Monday to help with the parish's Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.

Rodriguez thanked company officials for the donation and said the money
could go into a fund to be used as matching money for grants for the
hurricane recovery.

Making the presentation was Janie McNeill, district manager for the Wal-Mart
area that included its Chalmette super store, which had opened in June, less
than three months before Hurricane Katrina. The store was heavily flooded
and remains closed but Wal-Mart officials have committed to reopening a
Chalmette store but haven't given a date.

With McNeill were JehaneVauthier, district human resources manager for
Wal-Mart and Dalton Doyle, store manager in Chalmette, who said he now works
in a Wal-Mart in Slidell.

McNeill said the $100,000 donation is "part of $8.5 million collected in
3,800 Wal-Mart stores last October in just one week time'' from customers
and employees.
The money has gone to various agencies and organizations in St. Bernard, New
Orleans, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and the Mississippi Gulf
Coast, she said.

Previously, McNeill said, Wal-Mart has given $18 million to the Red Cross
and Salvation Army for relief efforts for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as
well as given away about $3.5 million in store inventories, including
inventory from the Chalmette store.