WAVELAND, MISS., February 9, 2006 ---After mobilizing the single largest disaster recovery response in Motorola's (NYSE:MOT) 77-year history in 2005, top leaders from Motorola's Government and Enterprise business this week returned to hurricane ravaged Hancock County to construct a new public playground as part of the company's ongoing relationship with the national nonprofit organization KaBOOM!.
?Motorola's emergency response team was mobilized days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. We've been here ever since working side-by-side with customers to rebuild the region and restore Mission Critical interoperable communications to law enforcement and other first responders.? said Mark Moon, Corporate Vice President of Motorola's State and Local Government business. ?Last fall, we knew a time would come when we could do more to continue our business and humanitarian efforts in the region. Teaming with KaBOOM enables us to offer a hands-on way to create a place for children and families to spend quality time, to play and recharge their spirit during what everyone knows will be a long recovery process.?
Moon is one of about 130 senior leaders from Motorola's Government and Enterprise business who converged on Waveland this week, with about 100 other local and civic leaders, to build the playground with KaBOOM.
The Waveland playground is the ninth built by Motorola and KaBOOM! since 1999 and the third built by KaBOOM! in the Gulf Coast region as part of Operation Playground: Rebuilding Playgrounds; Restoring Childhoods, an initiative to help Gulf Coast communities build or refurbish playgrounds destroyed during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Through Operation Playground, KaBOOM! will build or refurbish 100 playgrounds in the Gulf Coast between December 2005 and December 2007.
?Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, we called upon our partners to help us begin to rebuild playgrounds and help restore childhoods along the Gulf Coast. Motorola enthusiastically answered the call,? said Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder, KaBOOM! ?Motorola knows, like we do, that children and communities need playgrounds to restore normalcy and provide a place to come together and play.?
Motorola and the Motorola Foundation, its charitable giving arm, also recently announced a $250,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) for its support of universities that suffered devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Including the UNCF gift, Motorola and the Motorola Foundation's humanitarian and business response to the 2005 hurricanes is the single-largest disaster recovery effort in the company's 77-year history. In addition to a cash donation, Motorola's Mission Critical business response to the Gulf Coast region was comprised of in-kind and equipment donations.
