MIAMI (Aug. 23, 2016) — Carnival Cruise Line and its parent company, Carnival Corporation, are giving a total of $250,000 to charitable organizations to support their efforts on behalf of victims of the Louisiana floods. The cruise line is donating $125,000 and its parent company is matching that amount through its Carnival Foundation charitable arm.

Recipients include the American Red Cross, Louisiana Association of United Ways and Save the Children.

In addition, guests sailing on Carnival cruises from New Orleans have the option to donate when they check in for their cruise and Carnival employees are being encouraged to donate, as well.

“Having homeported Carnival ships in Louisiana for more than two decades, we very much consider ourselves a part of the community and, therefore, it is extremely important to us to provide aid to support the tens of thousands of Louisiana residents who have been affected by these devastating floods,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

The American Red Cross is sheltering thousands of residents displaced by the flooding in southern Louisiana and delivering food, relief supplies and emotional support to flood victims. Donations to the Louisiana Association of United Ways will be dispersed among regional United Way organizations in communities affected by the floods to support long-term needs. Save the Children has deployed an emergency response team to Louisiana and is focused on meeting the critical needs of flood affected children and families and moving forward will be working to restore services essential to children’s well-being.

Carnival is Louisiana’s most popular cruise line and has operated from the Port of New Orleans since 1994. Carnival is the only line operating two year-round ships, Carnival Triumph and Carnival Dream, carrying 450,000 guests from the port annually. Since 2004 Carnival has embarked over 3 million guests from New Orleans.