Alpargatas Creates a Charitable Partnership to Help Combat COVID-19 in Brazil
Alpargatas is spearheading a “Charitable Partnership” network to unite partners and volunteers who want to contribute in the fight against COVID-19 in Brazil. Roberto Funari, president of Alpargatas announced: “Our aim is to unite our efforts, starting with actions by the Alpargatas Institute and its brands – Havaianas, Osklen and Mizuno. Initially, we will donate 250,000 masks, more than 250,000 pairs of shoes, and organize actions focused on the vulnerable communities in the country’s largest cities. We are working on many different fronts and we would like to invite other companies to join us in this initiative.”
Alparagatas is rolling out several initiatives to support Brazil during this uncertain time:
Charitable Partnership
In an effort to jumpstart this “Charitable Partnership”, Alpargatas will donate 100,000 kits of essential product – including Havaianas, hygiene products and food – to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro as well as vulnerable communities throughout the country. Partners include the Grupo Martins – a wholesaler which will organize the logistics for the initiative and Colgate , which will donate products. The goal is to expand the initiative and ignite a chain reaction ‘pay it forward’ model as more partners participate.
The company’s social responsibility program, the Alpargatas Institute, has also created a social fund to accept cash donations from individuals such as employees and customers to put towards creating more kits. For every $15 Brazilian Real (~$3USD) contributed, one additional kit of essential products will be donated.
Community Donations
- Hand Sanitizer – To support increased production of hand sanitizer, the company has donated 52 vessels for the transport of alcohol directly from refineries to the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) as well as 2,400 100ml spray bottles, which will be filled and donated to communities and schools.
- COVID-19 Tests – The brand is also donating supplies and equipment for the production of COVID-19 test kits. With this donation, UFPB will be able to locally collect and analyze up to 60 tests per day.
- Footwear – Over 100,000 pairs of Havaianas flip flops and sneakers will be donated to students and their families in the 11 cities where the Alpargatas Institute operates.
Public Health Donations
- Medical Supplies – Alpargatas has temporarily repurposed and adapted their factories to make protective equipment for healthcare professions. Initially, Alpargatas will produce 250,000 N95 masks to be donated to the public health services throughout Brazil, where the company’s factories are located.
○ The brand is also donating 100,000 thousand feet of fabric to the Department of Health to produce masks, lab coats, caps and other hospital clothing.
- Footwear – Additionally, the company will donate 52,000 pairs of shoes suitable for healthcare environments to hospital professionals in São Paulo and Montes Claros in the state of Minas Gerais.
News Access for All
Recognizing the lack of resources and access to information in many low-income communities, Havaianas will donate sound system equipment to the Conexão Favela (Favela Connection) radio station in Rio de Janeiro to produce and announce official content about how to prevent COVID-19 in several communities.