Zeon employees launch tornado relief effort

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Zeon employees launch tornado relief effort

Friday, April 20, 2012

Louisville, KY – It’s about a 30-mile drive from Zeon Chemicals’ Louisville, KY, manufacturing facility, across the Ohio River and due north, to Henryville, IN. Lately, though, Henryville seems even closer, definitely more familiar, now that everybody’s seen the pictures and read the stories about the devastating tornadoes that struck Henryville and other southern Indiana and Kentucky communities on March 2, killing 35 people. About a fourth of Zeon’s workers live in southern Indiana. One employee was directly affected by the loss of her family home. “Our entire Zeon family feels great empathy for all the storm’s victims,” said company president and CEO Tom Gettelfinger. “When a disaster of this magnitude hits so close to home, you feel compelled to do something that might help.” And help they have, collecting $20,000 in donations and proceeds from an employee-sponsored cookout and a raffle of items ranging from iPads and a large-screen TV to a free day off with pay. Zeon’s vendors pitched in, joining the company in donating raffle items; Zeon itself contributed matching funds. Of the total amount raised, $10,000 was donated to the Clark County (Indiana) American Red Cross chapter’s tornado relief fund, and $10,000 was donated to West Clark Community Schools for help in rebuilding Henryville Junior-Senior High School and Henryville Elementary School. Both sustained extreme damage in the storms, displacing some 1,200 students who are now attending classes in temporary facilities in nearby towns.