Urban League partners with COVID-19 group to donate hand sanitizer

Courtesy of The Chronicle-Telegram
July 12, 2020

The Urban League, including Lorain County, is working to donate gallons of hand sanitizer across Ohio for minority communities.

The Manufacturing Alliance to Fight COVID-19, local manufacturers and local Urban Leagues have partnered together to donate hand sanitizer kits to minority-owned businesses, community organizations and faith-based organizations.

“Black communities across America have sadly borne the brunt of this pandemic, laying bare tragic systemic disparities that mean Black people have a much higher risk of being hospitalized and dying from COVID-19,” said Ethan Karp, president of MAGNET, in a news release. “This is our small way of doing something to help in the fight against the pandemic and systemic racism.”

Each kit contains three 1-gallon jugs of hand sanitizer, as well as a dozen small, refillable dispensing bottles.

MAGNET is partnering with The Urban League of Greater Cleveland, which has brought together a distribution network including six other Urban League affiliates across the state: Akron Urban League, Columbus Urban League, Lorain County Urban League, Greater Stark County Urban League, Greater Warren-Youngstown Urban League, and the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio.

With economic difficulties and hand sanitizer shortages impacting many communities, the hope is that these donations will get hand sanitizer into the hands of people who need it to stay safe.

Procter & Gamble donated the hand sanitizer. Cleveland Whiskey donated its services to bottle and process the sanitizer into kits. Axium, a manufacturer of plastic containers with operations in Columbus, donated bottles. MAGNET donated pour spouts and cartons and brought all the partners together to make this happen.

More than 1,000 hand sanitizer kits will be distributed across Ohio over the next several months.

By Laina Yost