Author: sHq_LoGiNz

AEG employees across Southern California and New York dedicate their time and energy to the company’s annual Day of Service, volunteering at various events to make a meaningful impact in local communities. The Day of Service highlights the power of coming together to make a difference, showing how employees across the country can strengthen communities and inspire hope through shared purpose.

In Los Angeles, 250 AEG employees from all business units—including L.A. LIVE, Global Partnerships, AXS, L.A. Galaxy, L.A. Kings, and Crypto.com Arena—participated in a hands-on “Wall Build” with San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity. On campus at L.A. LIVE, volunteers constructed wall frames, painted and built components for future homes in Altadena. Vista Paint donated paint and supplied all essential painting materials for the Service Day projects while Frito-Lay and Coca-Cola provided snacks and beverages that kept volunteers fueled throughout the event.

“Our Service Day with SGV Habitat for Humanity reflects our ongoing commitment to fire relief. Nearly a year later, there is still so much to rebuild, and we were eager to roll up our sleeves and workto help rebuild homes and hopefully renew hope.” said Anette Padilla, Sr. Director of Community Foundation and Social Impact, AEG.

In addition to the $2 million the AEG family has already contributed to Los Angeles fire relief, AEG proudly presented San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity with a $150,000 check to support ongoing rebuilding efforts in communities affected by the Altadena fires.

On December 16^th, employees from AEG and Bowery Presents will partner with City Year New York to bring holiday cheer to The Emma Lazarus Elementary School in Brooklyn for the third year in a row. Volunteers will transform the campus into a festive winter wonderland by putting up holiday decorations throughout the campus and making holiday crafts with students. They will also spend time in classrooms, reading with students in small groups to create a joyful and engaging experience.

AEG’s annual Day of Service is part of the company’s Season of Giving initiative, which encourages employees across the United States to give back and spread cheer during the holiday season. Volunteers participate in activities both in person and virtually, supporting local communities through acts of service, generosity, and engagement.

Direct Relief today announced that Craig Redmond has joined Direct Relief’s executive leadership team as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the humanitarian medical aid group’s humanitarian programs, emergency response operations, and related functions.

Redmond brings to Direct Relief decades of humanitarian relief and development experience, primarily focused on developing programs and teams that help build resilience, relieve suffering, and transform lives. He served as Chief Executive of Relief International between 2022 and 2025, where he led a global team of more than 7,000 staff and local volunteers working in 15 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing humanitarian aid to communities affected by conflict and disaster.

Prior to Relief International, Redmond worked for 22 years at Mercy Corps in roles including Program Director for Azerbaijan, Country Director for Eritrea and Indonesia, Regional Director for Southeast Asia, and finally for 12 years as Senior Vice President of Programs, where he managed and oversaw all Mercy Corps programs globally. Craig was a pivotal leader in growing the organization and leading teams to breakthrough innovations in technology, financial inclusion, food security, and venture development. He has also worked with UNHCR, UNDP, and with the Peace Corps in a hospital in Kyrgyzstan.

Amy Weaver, Chief Executive Officer of Direct Relief, said, “Craig Redmond has led large-scale humanitarian operations for decades and brings the kind of grounded, field-informed perspective that aligns so well with Direct Relief’s mission. With Craig joining the Direct Relief team, I’m incredibly energized for the years ahead.”

With Redmond joining Direct Relief, Byron Scott, MD, MBA, moves from his role as President and Chief Operating Officer to the new position of Chief Health Officer (effective January 1, 2026), where he will advise across all health and medical issues and oversee Direct Relief’s grantmaking activities, Power for Health, and the Fund for Health Equity. Dr. Scott served as Direct Relief’s interim CEO between January and May 2025.

“All of us at Direct Relief are grateful to Dr. Scott for his years of steadfast leadership on our board of directors, and as our COO and interim CEO, and for the deep insight, guidance, and unfailing moral compass he will continue to bring to the organization in his new role as Chief Health Officer,” Weaver said.

Redmond’s appointment marks the second major leadership addition by Amy Weaver since she assumed the role of CEO in May. Jennifer Lotito, former President and Chief Operating Officer at (RED), joined Direct Relief in October as Chief External Affairs Officer, overseeing global communications, fundraising, partnerships, brand, and creative.

Redmond said, “It is hard to imagine a more pressing moment in history than now for the critical work that Direct Relief and our partners do every day across the U.S. and around the world. I am humbled by this incredible opportunity, and look forward to getting to know our operations, the team, and our partners as we work together to deliver essential support to millions.”

Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, Direct Relief provides large-scale medical assistance to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty, disaster, and conflict. Recognized by Forbes as #5 on its list of America’s Top 100 Charities, honored with the 2025 Seoul Peace Prize, and recipient of 15 consecutive four-star ratings from Charity Navigator, Direct Relief is known for its logistics-driven humanitarian operations and longstanding commitment to transparency and operational excellence. 

ST. PAUL, Minn., December 16, 2025 /3BL/ – The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) is pleased to announce the appointment of Celine Morris as its new Associate Director, effective January 2026. In this expanded leadership role, Celine will help guide BIER’s strategic direction, strengthen cross-member collaboration, and advance the organization’s mission to drive environmental sustainability across the global beverage sector. Her promotion reflects both her demonstrated leadership and BIER’s continued commitment to operational excellence and industry-leading impact.

Celine has served as BIER’s Program Manager for the past year while also working as a Senior Manager at Antea Group and an Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Credentialed Specialist. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in supporting BIER’s 2025 workstreams, member engagement, and technical initiatives. Her work has contributed directly to enhanced coordination across member companies and the delivery of high-quality, data-driven outputs.

Throughout 2025, Celine supported the execution of BIER’s Spring and Fall Roundtable Meetings, where members engaged in forward-thinking discussions and collaborative problem-solving across critical environmental topics, including nature-positive strategies, advanced methods for measuring water replenishment co-benefits, exploration of breakthroughs in renewable thermal energy solutions, and best practices for designing and implementing Collective Action water projects. Additionally, Celine strengthened member readiness through BIER’s Regulatory Round-Up and Ad-Hoc Sessions, which she helped coordinate and facilitate. Her work ensured that members remained aligned, informed, and equipped to respond to emerging sustainability challenges.

As Associate Director, Celine will continue to serve as a key liaison between BIER’s global membership, technical workstreams, and partner organizations. She will support Executive Director Erica Pann in providing strategic leadership across BIER’s technical focus areas, including advancing water stewardship, driving climate action, strengthening sustainability reporting, promoting circular systems, and supporting nature and biodiversity efforts across the sector. In this role, she will also help ensure operational excellence, effective governance, and strong member collaboration, while contributing to BIER’s long-term strategic roadmap and alignment between member priorities and technical workstream execution.

“Celine has been instrumental in driving BIER’s work forward and strengthening our engagement model,” said Pann. “Her technical expertise, program leadership, and commitment to collaboration make her an outstanding fit for this role.” Pann added, “We are confident that Celine’s leadership will continue to elevate BIER’s impact across the beverage sector.”

BIER congratulates Celine on this well-deserved appointment and looks forward to her continued leadership in advancing industry-wide sustainability progress.

For more information, please contact: Erica Pann, BIER Executive Director Erica.Pann@anteagroup.us

About BIER
BIER is a technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. Formed in 2006, BIER is a common voice across the beverage sector, speaking to influence global standards on environmental sustainability aspects most relevant to the sector, affect change both up and down the supply chain, and share best practices that raise the bar for environmental performance of the industry. By doing so, BIER is able to monitor data and trends, engage with key stakeholders, develop best practices, and guide a course of action for the future. BIER members include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Asahi Group Holdings, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Carlsberg Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Constellation Brands, Diageo, Heaven Hill Brands, Heineken, Keurig Dr Pepper, LION, Molson Coors, Monster Energy, Ocean Spray Cranberries, PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard and Suntory Global Spirits. For more information, visit www.bieroundtable.com.

ST. PAUL, Minn., December 16, 2025 /3BL/ – The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) is pleased to announce the appointment of Celine Morris as its new Associate Director, effective January 2026. In this expanded leadership role, Celine will help guide BIER’s strategic direction, strengthen cross-member collaboration, and advance the organization’s mission to drive environmental sustainability across the global beverage sector. Her promotion reflects both her demonstrated leadership and BIER’s continued commitment to operational excellence and industry-leading impact.

Celine has served as BIER’s Program Manager for the past year while also working as a Senior Manager at Antea Group and an Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Credentialed Specialist. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in supporting BIER’s 2025 workstreams, member engagement, and technical initiatives. Her work has contributed directly to enhanced coordination across member companies and the delivery of high-quality, data-driven outputs.

Throughout 2025, Celine supported the execution of BIER’s Spring and Fall Roundtable Meetings, where members engaged in forward-thinking discussions and collaborative problem-solving across critical environmental topics, including nature-positive strategies, advanced methods for measuring water replenishment co-benefits, exploration of breakthroughs in renewable thermal energy solutions, and best practices for designing and implementing Collective Action water projects. Additionally, Celine strengthened member readiness through BIER’s Regulatory Round-Up and Ad-Hoc Sessions, which she helped coordinate and facilitate. Her work ensured that members remained aligned, informed, and equipped to respond to emerging sustainability challenges.

As Associate Director, Celine will continue to serve as a key liaison between BIER’s global membership, technical workstreams, and partner organizations. She will support Executive Director Erica Pann in providing strategic leadership across BIER’s technical focus areas, including advancing water stewardship, driving climate action, strengthening sustainability reporting, promoting circular systems, and supporting nature and biodiversity efforts across the sector. In this role, she will also help ensure operational excellence, effective governance, and strong member collaboration, while contributing to BIER’s long-term strategic roadmap and alignment between member priorities and technical workstream execution.

“Celine has been instrumental in driving BIER’s work forward and strengthening our engagement model,” said Pann. “Her technical expertise, program leadership, and commitment to collaboration make her an outstanding fit for this role.” Pann added, “We are confident that Celine’s leadership will continue to elevate BIER’s impact across the beverage sector.”

BIER congratulates Celine on this well-deserved appointment and looks forward to her continued leadership in advancing industry-wide sustainability progress.

For more information, please contact: Erica Pann, BIER Executive Director Erica.Pann@anteagroup.us

About BIER
BIER is a technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. Formed in 2006, BIER is a common voice across the beverage sector, speaking to influence global standards on environmental sustainability aspects most relevant to the sector, affect change both up and down the supply chain, and share best practices that raise the bar for environmental performance of the industry. By doing so, BIER is able to monitor data and trends, engage with key stakeholders, develop best practices, and guide a course of action for the future. BIER members include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Asahi Group Holdings, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Carlsberg Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Constellation Brands, Diageo, Heaven Hill Brands, Heineken, Keurig Dr Pepper, LION, Molson Coors, Monster Energy, Ocean Spray Cranberries, PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard and Suntory Global Spirits. For more information, visit www.bieroundtable.com.

NEW YORK, December 16, 2025 /3BL/ – An IPC report released today shows that Afghanistan now ranks as the fourth country in the world for rates of child acute malnutrition. More than 3.7 million Afghan children are affected—200,000 more than last year—with widespread poverty preventing 78 percent of families from accessing nutritious food for their children. The crisis will continue to intensify, especially during the winter months when risks are elevated.

“No child should die because of hunger,” said Cobi Rietveld, Action Against Hunger’s Afghanistan Country Director. “Today’s report is very worrying: hunger in Afghanistan is worsening, and children are paying the highest price.”

According to the new report, children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are 12 times more likely to die than healthy children. The children most affected are very young, with 85 percent of severely malnourished children under two years old. An estimated 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are also acutely malnourished, heightening risks for both mothers and their children.

Afghanistan continues to face overlapping crises that make malnutrition prevention and treatment even more challenging. In addition to widespread poverty and limited access to healthcare, the country is now experiencing its fourth drought in five years, severely affecting crop production. A major earthquake in August caused more than 2,000 deaths and destroyed homes and health facilities in eastern Afghanistan, leaving children particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. These challenges are further compounded by ongoing border tensions and the return of over 2.5 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, which adds new risks for families already struggling to cope.

Large-scale funding cuts have intensified the crisis. The required response is only 50 percent funded so far, with just $148 million received out of a required $296 million, leaving a massive funding gap. These cuts have led to the closure of at least 305 nutrition sites across the country this year. A growing number of families struggle to reach the nutrition and healthcare they need due to a shortage of health facilities, restrictions on women’s mobility, and constraints placed on female health workers.

Action Against Hunger’s therapeutic feeding unit (TFU) in Kabul—which treats more than 1,000 children with severe acute malnutrition annually—was among the facilities affected by funding cuts. The unit was forced to suspend operations for one month before securing alternative funding, leaving queues of malnourished children without access to lifesaving care.

According to the IPC, the key drivers of this malnutrition crisis are poverty (with 78 percent of families unable to afford nutritious meals), disease burden (including 4,000 confirmed measles cases and high rates of diarrhea), poor access to safe drinking water (with more than 50 percent of people in 24 provinces lacking safe drinking water), and severely limited access to healthcare.

Despite funding gaps, Action Against Hunger continues to fight hunger in Afghanistan by treating malnourished children and pregnant mothers, and by tackling the root causes to prevent hunger. The organization works in six provinces across Afghanistan, implementing a multi-sectoral response to the ongoing crisis, which addresses the underlying causes of malnutrition. Last year, Action Against Hunger treated over 100,000 children facing malnutrition, of whom 5,611 were facing severe complications and a high likelihood of death without care.

“Hunger is rising, but together we can stop it,” said Rietveld. “Children are dying, and we must not let this happen.”

***

Action Against Hunger is a global leader creating a future where every life is well nourished. We innovate to prevent malnutrition and respond to hunger hotspots, working in 59 countries and reaching more than 21 million people each year. With 8,990 staff members worldwide—95% hired locally—we ensure culturally relevant solutions and empower communities with long-term resilience. For 18 consecutive years, we’ve earned top ratings from charity evaluators—a distinction achieved by fewer than 1% of nonprofits. Together, we are promoting resilience and working to end hunger for everyone, for good.

CONTACT:

Meredith Whitefield
mwhitefield@actionagainsthunger.org
917-771-0519

NEW YORK, December 16, 2025 /3BL/ – An IPC report released today shows that Afghanistan now ranks as the fourth country in the world for rates of child acute malnutrition. More than 3.7 million Afghan children are affected—200,000 more than last year—with widespread poverty preventing 78 percent of families from accessing nutritious food for their children. The crisis will continue to intensify, especially during the winter months when risks are elevated.

“No child should die because of hunger,” said Cobi Rietveld, Action Against Hunger’s Afghanistan Country Director. “Today’s report is very worrying: hunger in Afghanistan is worsening, and children are paying the highest price.”

According to the new report, children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are 12 times more likely to die than healthy children. The children most affected are very young, with 85 percent of severely malnourished children under two years old. An estimated 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are also acutely malnourished, heightening risks for both mothers and their children.

Afghanistan continues to face overlapping crises that make malnutrition prevention and treatment even more challenging. In addition to widespread poverty and limited access to healthcare, the country is now experiencing its fourth drought in five years, severely affecting crop production. A major earthquake in August caused more than 2,000 deaths and destroyed homes and health facilities in eastern Afghanistan, leaving children particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. These challenges are further compounded by ongoing border tensions and the return of over 2.5 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, which adds new risks for families already struggling to cope.

Large-scale funding cuts have intensified the crisis. The required response is only 50 percent funded so far, with just $148 million received out of a required $296 million, leaving a massive funding gap. These cuts have led to the closure of at least 305 nutrition sites across the country this year. A growing number of families struggle to reach the nutrition and healthcare they need due to a shortage of health facilities, restrictions on women’s mobility, and constraints placed on female health workers.

Action Against Hunger’s therapeutic feeding unit (TFU) in Kabul—which treats more than 1,000 children with severe acute malnutrition annually—was among the facilities affected by funding cuts. The unit was forced to suspend operations for one month before securing alternative funding, leaving queues of malnourished children without access to lifesaving care.

According to the IPC, the key drivers of this malnutrition crisis are poverty (with 78 percent of families unable to afford nutritious meals), disease burden (including 4,000 confirmed measles cases and high rates of diarrhea), poor access to safe drinking water (with more than 50 percent of people in 24 provinces lacking safe drinking water), and severely limited access to healthcare.

Despite funding gaps, Action Against Hunger continues to fight hunger in Afghanistan by treating malnourished children and pregnant mothers, and by tackling the root causes to prevent hunger. The organization works in six provinces across Afghanistan, implementing a multi-sectoral response to the ongoing crisis, which addresses the underlying causes of malnutrition. Last year, Action Against Hunger treated over 100,000 children facing malnutrition, of whom 5,611 were facing severe complications and a high likelihood of death without care.

“Hunger is rising, but together we can stop it,” said Rietveld. “Children are dying, and we must not let this happen.”

***

Action Against Hunger is a global leader creating a future where every life is well nourished. We innovate to prevent malnutrition and respond to hunger hotspots, working in 59 countries and reaching more than 21 million people each year. With 8,990 staff members worldwide—95% hired locally—we ensure culturally relevant solutions and empower communities with long-term resilience. For 18 consecutive years, we’ve earned top ratings from charity evaluators—a distinction achieved by fewer than 1% of nonprofits. Together, we are promoting resilience and working to end hunger for everyone, for good.

CONTACT:

Meredith Whitefield
mwhitefield@actionagainsthunger.org
917-771-0519