News Releases

ST. LOUIS (March 30, 2020) – Ameren Corporation announced that its AmerenCares charitable trust is donating $500,000 to help individuals, families and communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will support relief efforts in Illinois and Missouri.

Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund (ICRF)
The AmerenCares program will provide $250,000 to a new fund established by the United Way of Illinois and the Alliance of Illinois Community Foundations, in collaboration with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. The fund is being chaired by Former U.S. Commerce Secretary of State Penny Pritzker. All funds raised will quickly be distributed to local community foundations and non-profits to assist Illinois residents with emergency food, housing and shelter, medical services, and other basic needs. The fund had raised $23 million as of close of business on Thursday.  Information on the funding is available at Ilcovidresponsefund.org.

United Way of Greater St. Louis – 2-1-1 Program
The AmerenCares program will provide $250,000 to the United Way of Greater St. Louis COVID-19 Response Fund, with a focus on helping United Way scale-up the operations of its 2-1-1 program. 2-1-1 serves as an emergency relief line, guiding calls related to crisis and hardship to United Way’s nonprofit member agencies and its expansive ready-network of nonprofits. United Way of Greater St. Louis supports more than 160 nonprofit agencies in a 16-county region in both Missouri and Illinois. This AmerenCares charitable contribution follows $1,000,000 in support for Ameren Missouri customers, made on March 19 as part of a separate Coronavirus Income Relief Fund in partnership with the United Way and commitment to Heatupmissouri.org and Heatupstlouis.org for energy assistance.

“We are grateful to Ameren and its leadership team for their generosity through this incredible gift to the community,” said Michelle Tucker, CEO and president of United Way of Greater St. Louis. “With their support, we will provide critical funds throughout Missouri and Illinois that will help our neighbors facing hardship due to the COVID-19 crisis. A longtime partner of United Way, Ameren continues to step up to help stabilize families throughout the St. Louis region with this gift and the $1 million they’ve already infused into our community for help during this crisis.”

While the COVID-19 crisis is affecting nearly all sectors and customer groups, low-income households, seniors, veterans and the disabled are most at risk for experiencing significant hardship. The Illinois and Missouri relief funds have provisions to direct assistance to the most vulnerable populations.

"Many downstate Illinois families are struggling to meet even their most basic needs," said Richard J. Mark, president of Ameren Illinois. "This collaborative partnership will provide immediate and significant benefits to our customers. We encourage everyone to join us and lend a hand to those who need assistance during this challenging time."

"This donation is focused on helping communities with the immediate impacts of COVID-19, especially for meeting the basic needs of our most vulnerable neighbors," said Marty Lyons, president of Ameren Missouri. "All of us at Ameren Missouri are committed to supporting our customers across Missouri in this time of need, and for as long as it takes our communities to recover."

For a complete list of programs and resources available to customers, please visit Ameren.com/COVID19.

About Ameren Corporation
St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric distribution and transmission service, as well as natural gas distribution service, while Ameren Missouri provides vertically integrated electric service, with generating capacity of more than 10,100 megawatts, and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops regional electric transmission projects. For more information, visit Ameren.com, or follow us on Twitter at @AmerenCorp, Facebook.com/AmerenCorp, or LinkedIn.com/company/Ameren.