January 3, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, 2013
For more information,
Contact: Scott Bird
Moxley Carmichael
865-544-0088
[email protected]
From left, Lonsdale Elementary students Juan Phillipe-Francisco and Pedro Juan Andres stop for a photo with Vice President and General Manager Johnny Miller after selecting their winter hats and mittens at the annual Mitten Tree event hosted by Gerdau.
In 2000, Gerdau took over operations of the Knoxville mill that has been part of the Lonsdale community for 110 years under various names and owners. That same year, the mill began the tradition of hosting the Mitten Tree event at Lonsdale Elementary School.
The event provides hats, mittens and holiday treats to the school’s children.
“This partnership is so important to Gerdau,” said Gerdau Vice President and General Manager Johnny Miller. “Many of our employees went to this school as children, and many of the children here today will be our future employees.”
The idea for the annual event came about on a cold December morning when a Gerdau employee on her way to work passed by some children outside the school and noticed they had no hats or mittens. She decided that she and her co-workers could do something to help.
The idea was well received at Gerdau. They already had a partnership with Lonsdale School, and this provided another opportunity to help.
In the beginning, the employees donated hats and mittens for the school children. As the event grew, Gerdau started purchasing the items needed for the more than 350 students and used employee donations to help fund Angel Tree wishes at the school.
The Mitten Tree event has become a fun holiday tradition for the students at Lonsdale elementary. For Gerdau, it helps fulfill their mission of being a great community partner.
Gerdau has a robust social responsibility program that focuses on providing community support in the locations where it operates. Pillars under the social responsibility program are education, quality management and community engagement.
Nationally, Gerdau donates funds to the United Way, Habitat for Humanity and American Heart Association.
About Gerdau
Gerdau is the leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the largest suppliers of special long steel in the world. It has over 45,000 employees and industrial operations in 14 countries with operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, which together represent an installed capacity of over 25 million metric tons of steel per year. It is the largest recycler in Latin America and around the world it transforms millions of metric tons of scrap into steel every year. Gerdau is listed on the stock exchanges of São Paulo, New York and Madrid and has approximately 140,000 shareholders.
Gerdau’s products are generally sold to steel service centers, steel fabricators, or directly to original equipment manufacturers for use in a variety of industries, including non-residential, infrastructure, commercial, industrial and residential construction, metal building, manufacturing, automotive, mining, cellular and electrical transmission and equipment manufacturing.
For more information, visit http://www.gerdau.com/longsteel.
