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Industry News: Industry Stepping Up To Assist In Haiti Relief
Issue: 2010jan
The generosity of the promotional products industry has begun to overflow to fill the needs in earthquake-devastated Haiti. Since last Tuesday’s disaster hit the country, members have stepped up to offer money and goods to help ease the pain for thousands of Haitians. Among the efforts are these:
• Bill and Patty Turney, principals of Houston, Texas-based distributor Augusta Promotional Products, LLC (UPIC: AUGUSTA), have donated to the U.S. Fund For UNICEF and challenge their fellow members to do the same. Turney says he has given one percent of his personal sales for the month of January. “I don’t know if everyone will step up to the plate at just one percent of sales but if we, as an industry do, we can make a difference.”
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is absorbing all associated administrative costs so that 100 percent of every dollar given to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will support UNICEF's relief efforts for children in Haiti. To donate, send checks to: U.S. Fund For UNICEF, Attention: Haiti Relief Efforts, 520 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 280, Houston, Texas 77027. Or, make a secure online donation at http://www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake.
• Jonathan Irvin, co-founder of Fort Collins, Colorado-based distributor Bartell-Irvin Creative (UPIC: ALLYOU) has started PromoForHaiti.org, a place where promotional products pros can find information on how and where to send products for the Haiti relief effort. Irvin developed the relief effort with Gifts In Kind, International, the 12th largest charity in America according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which generated and placed nearly $750 million in urgently needed new product donations last year.
"So much of what the industry produces could be helpful for this relief effort," Irvin says.
A list of needed items will be posted on the site very shortly. Donors are asked to provide shipping to a yet-to-be determined port, where Gifts in Kind will oversee movement of the products to Haiti. Suppliers and distributors should notify Irvin of their ability to donate at PromoForHaiti@gmail.com.
• Mary James at Centreville, Maryland-based distributor Quester II, Inc. (UPIC: QUES0001) is coordinating with the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo to collect items to be shipped to Haiti. Items needed are water/sport bottle containers, blankets, towels, t-shirts, shirts for children and adults, flashlights with batteries, first-aid kits (especially ones with hand sanitizers, shampoo, lip balm), tote bags, nylon backpacks, plastic utensils, children’s toys including crayons, coloring books and stuffed animals. Contact James at questerii@verison.net or by phone, 410-758-4333 to coordinate your donation.
• Cincinnati, Ohio distributor Cintas Corp. (UPIC: CINTP001) partnered with Cincinnati-based Matthew 25: Ministries to provide more than 43,000 garments, nearly half of which are medical scrubs, to the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. The total value of the donation exceeds $330,000.
The garment donation is part of an ongoing relief effort by the company through Matthew 25: Ministries. Other Cintas products donated to the ministry include latex gloves, first-aid supplies, hand sanitizers and masks.
“Cintas is committed to being a good corporate citizen and is proud of the partnership we have had with Matthew 25: Ministries for more than a decade,” says Scott Farmer, chief executive officer of Cintas. “The people of Haiti have suffered immeasurable loss and we are pleased to do our part to help them overcome this tragedy.”
The garments were transported from Cintas’s Chicago distribution center to Matthew 25: Ministries’s processing center in Blue Ash, Ohio. They will be sorted, repackaged and shipped with other essential humanitarian aid to Haiti.
Cintas employee-partners are engaged in additional relief drives at each of the company’s 350 locations throughout North America, all of which will be shipped directly to Matthew 25: Ministries.
• PPAI staff have selected the American Red Cross for their cash donations. To contribute, go to www.americanredcross.com and click on the red DONATE NOW button. You can designate your contribution to go directly to Haiti Relief.
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