CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Anheuser-Busch is getting involved in West Virginia’s general election. The company, best known for its beer products, Thursday donated 43,000 ounces of hand sanitizer to the Mountain State to be placed in polling locations and areas where election workers will be busy in the upcoming vote.
“We really see this as a way we can step up and use our unique capabilities to help serve the community and our partners in times of need,” said Audrey Porter, Director of Corporate Communications for the company on MetroNews Talkline.
She was in Charleston as part of the company’s effort to deliver and distribute the material to all 50 states ahead of the November vote.
The hand sanitizer is produced at the company’s operations in New York and California. Anheuser-Busch shifted production back in April when the need grew and first responders found their materials in short supply.
“We actually gave a half-million eight-ounce bottles earlier this year that went to community organizations, emergency management agencies, food banks, health care systems, and a lot of those front line responders as well,” Porter explained.
The hand sanitizer delivered to West Virginia this week is packaged in eight ounce bottles and the large gallon sized bottles with the large pump on top. Those are to be placed in precincts around the state for use by voters and election workers.
“Making sure voters and election officials feel safe when they vote this fall. We at Anheuser-Busch along with lots of other folks think it’s part of the election process for people to feel safe to come out and vote,” she said.
The donation is part of a broader program in collaboration with the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where the brewer is donating more than eight million ounces of hand sanitizer to election offices across the country.
This week, the brewer teamed up with local wholesaler partner, Spriggs Distributing Company in South Charleston, W.Va. and utilized their collective logistics expertise to deliver the sanitizer locally to support polling locations and election offices.