In the aftermath of the Haiti disaster, Connecticut companies large and small have pledged what they could, digging deep with a “recession be damned” attitude to donate.
Some companies had the resources to make big contributions: Fairfield-based General Electric Co. pledged $3.2 million for Haiti relief, donating the funds to the American Red Cross and to the United Nations Fund for UNICEF. Norwalk-based Diageo and Greenwich-based Nestle Waters are also working on massive scales.
If small businesses and individuals gave less, it was no less great in the aggregate. Jazzeria Toozypatza Pizza pledged 50 cents toward Haiti relief for every pizza sold. Mauro Ribeiro, a manager in the Wilton restaurant, said customers reacted enthusiastically to the program after being alerted through a mass email.
While Fairfield County is home to both AmeriCares and Save the Children, which took lead roles in coordinating donations and relief shipments, locally focused charities also stepped up. The Fairfield County Community Foundation posted instructions on its website on how foundations could contribute.
Hope for Haiti, a Florida-based charity run by the family of Norwalk-based Building & Land Technology”™s CEO Carl Kuehner III, transported seven medical workers and 75,000 pounds of supplies aboard two airplanes to Haiti.
For its part, AmeriCares said it had counted on $5 million worth of supplies for its initial air shipment to Haiti, but was able to get an additional $1 million worth onto that first plane.
“The scene at the Port-au-Prince airport was amazing,” wrote AmeriCares chief of staff Carol Shattuck, in a blog posted Jan. 18 as relief efforts continued in Haiti. “Planes landing one after another all night ”¦Â Just imagine pitching a tent next to a New York City runway on its busiest day of the year.”
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The state of Connecticut offered up its $8 million mobile hospital unit, which can be set up on site in hours and provides 100 beds.
The scope of the disaster ”“ estimates at press time were of 200,000 dead ”“ has left organizations, like the Haitian Community Center in Stamford, attempting to coordinate relief and put family members in touch with relatives.
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Beverage giant Diageo in Norwalk, which has employees in Haiti, teamed up with the Washington Redskins to deliver more than 45,000 pounds of food and emergency supplies on Jan. 19.
The Diageo-Redskins partnership commissioned a 727 aircraft to depart from Miami and christened it Diageo”™s Spirit of the Americas Humanitarian Aid; it will be an ongoing effort.
“The devastation caused by this earthquake is unimaginable,” said William Bullard, corporate relations director of Latin America and the Caribbean for Diageo. “Honestly, working for Diageo, I am humbled that the business gives us the opportunity to do what we can for those who have been so impacted by this disaster. We will remain committed to providing relief and working together to rebuild in Haiti.”
Diageo holds a minority stake in Brasserie Nationale d”™Haiti S.A., a brewery located in Port Au Prince. Brasserie Nationale d”™Haiti S.A. has more than 1,300 employees, locally brews Guinness beer and distributes many of Diageo”™s leading products, including Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Baileys and Tanqueray.
Bullard said the health kits contain enough materials to provide basic medical care for more than 10,000 people for 90 days, which will be critical as every hospital in Haiti was either damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. Diageo will also be sending food supplies including beans, rice, cooking oil and Ensure nutritional drink. The Washington Redskins will join with Diageo to deliver a second round of aid workers and emergency supplies via Redskins”™ owner Dan Snyder”™s private airplane.
Nestle Waters North America in Greenwich has donated $1 million in bottled water to support the efforts. Victims”™ pleas for water have been wrenching. Nestle Waters said it is working with relief organizations to coordinate logistics of the donation to ensure the bottled water reaches those most in need as quickly as possible.
Stew Leonard”™s grocery stores employ 107 people directly affected by the earthquake. On Jan. 19, all of them solicited donations toward relief, with 100 percent of the haul going to victims.
