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Features

With A Little Help From My Friends

Mar 17, 2020

With A Little Help From My Friends

WORDS: LEXI DAVIS

As the nation is collectively practicing social distancing and public institutions and establishments temporarily close for the safety of the more vulnerable among us, we here at WW think it’s important t to shed light on positive, responsible actions being carried out throughout the community. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are taking a stand to not only support their employees, but to also aid the greater society. Many  brands are donating to help ease testing and vaccination supply costs, while other companies are implementing new programs to further support the world in this time of need. Ranging from fashion to technology, industries across the world are going the extra mile to keep consumers clean and healthy 

LVMH is Helping to Keep Hands Clean

With a surge of sanitary goods being cleared from many grocery store shelves, there’s been countless posts and videos  helping folks at home create their own soaps, disinfectant wipes, and even hand sanitizer. Luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, the parent company of Christian Dior, Guerlain and Givenchy,is helping French health authorities by manufacturing hand sanitizer and providing it to them for free. Announced this past Monday, the company stated that it will use all the production facilities of its perfumes and cosmetics brands to produce large quantities of hydroalcoholic gel, or hand sanitizer. The gels will be distributed to French health authorities and the Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, a network of 39 teaching hospitals that treats more than 8 million patients each year.

Jose Andres Sets Up Community Kitchens

Renowned international chef Jose Andres and his restaurant group, ThinkFoodGroup has temporarily closed their restaurants in New York and D.C to help encourage social distancing and in change, they will be re-purposing operations for locations to become “community kitchens”.  In conjunction with his non-profit, World Central Kitchen, Andres will operate in his restaurants to provide to-go meals for those who need it.  TFG employees will continue to receive paid leave and health benefits. Volunteers will continue to run the community kitchens everyday from 12 to 5 PM to serve “affordable plates of the day” available for take-out.  

Luxury Brands Band Together for Italy 

The French conglomerate Kering, along with the luxury brands particularly active in Italy, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen announced a 2 million euro donation towards the fight against the spreading virus.  The donation is set to contribute towards health-care institutions across Lombardy, Veneto, Tuscany, and Lazio.

Tech Supports Small Business

The world’s most robust tech conglomerates are taking precautionary and considerate measures to aid their local community of Silicon Valley. Facebook, Google, Microsoft and more have donated millions of dollars to support small businesses, fund and encourage computer science programs in schools, and to increase awareness of the coronavirus across the world. In addition to monetary donations, these companies are also providing services free of charge to the public ranging from Facebook supplying free advertising to the World Health Organization, to Google offering free productivity services to digital communities in their network.

Johnson & Johnson Provides Resources for Healthcare Workers

Medical giant, Johnson & Johnson, is leading the way in donating numerous resources to combat the instantaneous spread of the coronavirus across the world. Similar to other international brands and organizations, Johnson & Johnson has donated 1 million renminbi to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation to pay for supplies and proper equipment for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. Johnson & Johnson have also generously donated 1 million surgical masks, 48,000 bottles of Band-Aid Isopropyl Alcohol, over 1,300 packs of Acuvue contact lenses, an electrosurgical generator & other medical devices, and a force team of company scientists dedicated to creating a vaccine. Unlike most companies, Johnson & Johnson is providing all the resources needed to combat all fronts of the pandemic ranging from the public’s needs to those of the health industry.

 

With a constantly shifting and uncertain atmosphere, the current state of the world can feel at times overwhelmingly negative. That’s why it’s important to showcase the ways in which humanity is coming together in this crisis, , with many of the largest international companies embracing their communal responsibility,  developing programs designed to keep the world safe, healthy, and clean. Whether they’re donating millions of dollars or providing services to those in need, many of the world’s strongest companies are collaboratively joining forces to cease the spread of this virus and help spread some positivity through humanity .