FIRST RAY OF HOPE OUT OF DEVASTATION
ORECK CORP RE-OPENS PLANT PUTS 500 PEOPLE BACK TO WORK PROVIDES SHELTER, FOOD, PAYCHECKS

September 09, 2005

"If they were an Oreck employee before the hurricane they still have a job," said Oreck President and CEO Tom Oreck. "Starting Friday, Sept. 9, our production facility near Gulfport, Miss. will reopen putting 500 of our plant employees back to work while housing and feeding them and their families."

"With the media's help running our employee relief phone number 888-528-0088 we were able to locate employees who lost everything to Katrina, and help them start rebuilding their lives, " Oreck said.

Oreck Corporation manufactures the popular 8-lb. Oreck vacuum cleaner, floor cleaning products, air purifiers, household and industrial cleaning supplies sold through 450 Oreck retail stores across the US and direct response.

Since last week, the 45-year-old family operated Oreck Corporation purchased new mobile housing units for employees; contracted for food, water and supplies; purchased generators, storage tanks and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel.

"Amid the destruction, we got all of these things in place at our Long Beach plant near Gulfport, " Oreck reported. " We will ensure Oreck employees and their families have safe and sanitary housing, food, water and a paycheck," he said.

"Employees from our New Orleans headquarters office are temporarily relocated to Dallas, Denver and Atlanta," Oreck said.

"It's not just the employees and families at our New Orleans headquarters, and Gulfport plant," said Oreck. "It's also the employees and families of our 450 retail stores across the country and the employees and families of our suppliers and vendors and agencies across America. We have a huge responsibility to these people. "

"Our advance planning facilitated bringing in portable generators so our plant can operate. Our product inventory is intact and there is hope for our people," Oreck said. " We are in business."

"Working with UPS, we will bring trucks of food, water and supplies into the Gulfport, Long Beach area. Those same trucks will haul our products out to Oreck retail stores and make deliveries of those products purchased at our stores and through our other business partners, " Oreck said.

"My Dad, David Oreck, founded this company 40 years ago and I'm not going to let a hurricane destroy what he created," Oreck promised. Already Oreck is getting calls from customers across the country wishing them luck. "We're alive. We're able," Oreck said. "It's up to us and people like us to help." The people affected by Katrina need help.

"By keeping our company running and healthy, we help keep the American economy going. Our employees and their families not just in New Orleans and Mississippi but all across the country all depend on Oreck for their livelihood and Americans depend on our products for cleaner, healthier homes," Oreck said. "We will do whatever it takes."