Great Water Month

At MillerCoors, we know we have a responsibility to protect and preserve beer’s most essential ingredient – water. Not only is it directly relevant to our business, it also demonstrates to the communities where we live, work and brew our beers that we are good business partners.

Each September, we bring our commitment to water to life in a big way during Great Water Month, our company-wide month of water stewardship.

In 2011, we're proud to say that more than 1,100 volunteers – including employees, distributor partners and retailers – rolled up their sleeves and logged more than 3,300 volunteer hours, working with local nonprofits that are focused on improving and preserving water resources.

Employees participated in a variety of events, including cleaning up rivers and beaches, testing water quality, removing invasive species and much more. Check out some of our specific accomplishments.
 

Albany Brewery

Tom Long, CEO, joined members of the Albany Brewery to partner with local non-profit Flint River Keeper to collect trash along the Flint River. Employees navigated 11 boats along the riverbanks and collected more than 50 trash bags of debris including several old coolers, tires and other large items.

Chicago HQ/Great Lakes Region

Our Senior Leadership Team joined employees from the Chicago HQ and Illinois management unit, as well as local distributor Chicago Beverage Systems, to partner with four non-profit organizations: Friends of the Chicago River, Open Lands, Iron Street Farm, Alliances for Great Lakes. Volunteers conducted water quality testing, mulching, trash clean-up, wildlife studies, invasive weed pulling, rain barrel building, and much more.

Eden Brewery

Eden Brewery employees teamed up with distributor CH Robinson to volunteer with the Dan River Basin Association. Volunteers planted 60 trees along the riverbank for erosion control, picked up many bags of debris, and posted permanent signage describing the importance of preserving the water quality in the Dan River.

Golden Valley

Corporate, brewery and support manufacturing employees volunteered with the U.S. Forest Service and National Forest Foundation to help preserve the Clear Creek Watershed. Employees participated in streambed restoration, constructing buck and rail fence to protect the riverbank, planting willows and spreading native grasses and flower seeds, and conducting water testing for the fish habitat.

Great Lakes Region (Indiana Management Unit)

Employees from the Indiana management unit and Monarch Distributing partnered with Geist Lake Coalition to clean up the lakeshore. Volunteers filled two huge Dumpsters with trash, including old car and bike tires, glass and plastic bottles, lawn chairs, and even old rafts.

Fort Worth Brewery/Central Region

Brewery employees joined members of the Central Region sales team to volunteer with the Fort Worth Nature Center. The group worked to clean up Trinity River and the surrounding lands at the nature center. They navigated canoes along the water and scoured the riverbanks to collect 50 bags of trash and 16 tires.

Irwindale Brewery/Pacific Region

For the third year in a row, Irwindale employees participated in the annual International Coastal Clean Up Day in California. This year, they were joined by employees from our greater Los Angeles management unit and Beauchamp Distributing, to clean a three-quarter mile stretch of beach coastline in Bolsa Chica.

Leinenkugel’s (Chippewa Falls)/Great Lakes Region

Jake Leinenkugel joined employees from Leinie’s and the Great Lakes Sales Region to clean up Irvine Park. They were joined by local distributor General Beer Northwest, as well as two local packaging partners, Great Northern Corp. and Maletto Packaging, Inc. Volunteers installed riprap – stones that help prevent erosion – along the banks of Duncan Creek, cleared a two-block-long trail in the woods for viewing and fishing areas on the creek bank, removed brush and debris, and hauled in crushed granite for the trail.

Milwaukee Brewery and Corporate

Chief Legal Officer, Karen Ripley, joined employees to volunteer with the Milwaukee River Keepers. The team participated in the 3rd Annual River Clean-Up at Lincoln Park, where volunteers picked up three full truckloads of trash and recyclables found in or around the Milwaukee River.

Northeast Region (Puerto Rico)

Puerto Rico employees from the regional sales team, V. Suarez & Distributing and the Coors Light Draftfcb agency participated in the San Juan Bay Estuary clean-up. Water quality testing was performed, and islet clean up required wading through the bay to bring bags of trash to the mainland.

Shenandoah Brewery

Shenandoah employees teamed up with the Shenandoah Valley Pure Water Forum to volunteer at Stonewall Jackson Area Council Regional Boy Scouts of America “Camp Shenandoah.” They worked to stabilize four camping sites for the next 50 years by mulching the sites to reduce soil erosion, soil compaction and storm water runoff. Employees spread a total of 350-400 cubic yards of mulch.

Southeast Region (Government Affairs Team and Atlanta Management Unit)

Employees from the Southeast Region teamed up with local distributor Northeast Sales Distributing to volunteer at the Lake Lanier Harbor Marina. Volunteers participated in lakeshore clean-up, including navigating pontoon boats to pick up trash collected by a local Boy Scouts group, as well as collecting trash and debris that was unreachable from the banks of the marina.

Trenton Brewery/Great Lakes Region

Employees from the Trenton Brewery and the Great Lakes Region, as well as Bonbright Distributing, volunteered in conjunction with the brewery’s sponsorship of Great Miami River Days. Volunteers placed storm drain markers on city streets warning against dumping of pollution into the drains.