By Lee Newspapers
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ARCADIA, Wis. — Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. will donate nearly $1 million in furniture to flood victims in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Arcadia-based furniture manufacturing company said Monday.

Ashley plans to give up to 500 mattresses, box springs and bed frames, with bed linens; up to 200 bedroom sets; and up to 200 living room sets, Karen Wanek said in a press release.


She leads a committee formed by Ashley to aid flood victims and is the wife of Ashley CEO Todd Wanek. She said she has been working full time on the project.

The recipients will be chosen by officials in various Minnesota and Wisconsin communities. Among the communities contacted were Gays Mills and the towns of Bergen and Shelby in Wisconsin; and Brownsville, Goodview, Houston, Minnesota City, Rushford, St. Charles and Stockton in Minnesota.

Wanek praised municipal officials’ cooperation in the effort.

“As Ashley did to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina two years ago by donating more than $1 million to the American Red Cross, we are today trying to help people devastated by these floods to ‘pick up the pieces’ and get back to a normal life,” she said.

“Many of our employees and their families have been affected by this flood, and Ashley wants to show them and flood victims devastated by this tragedy that we support them and their recovery efforts,” said Ron Wanek, Ashley chairman, whose family settled in Minnesota’s Winona County in the mid-1800s.

Ashley is the nation’s largest furniture manufacturer.