There was once a time where finding a bottle of hand sanitizer was like striking gold. That time has come to an end. Now with demand trailing off, big companies like Walmart and CVS are donating excess supplies, including a local beauty company, Kira Labs.
In the early stages of the pandemic, Kira Labs partnered with another supplier to meet the high demand.
“We said to ourselves we’ve got these ingredients for alcohol and other key ingredients to make hand sanitizer, it’s incompetent upon us to do something producing. Everybody needs hand sanitizer right now, so we better start making them,” said David Rosen, CEO of Kira Labs.
Kira Labs has donated over half a million tubes of hand sanitizer bottles to local hospitals and organizations in dire need.
“In looking for key partners that we can provide product to where it’s really going to matter and count, Meals on Wheels came up early in our suggestions and we’re really happy to have the opportunity and continue to have the opportunity to partner with that group,” said Rosen.
“When everybody was scrambling for hand sanitzer, Kira Labs gave me a call and said that they can offer us hand sanitizer and how much do we need” said Mark Adler.
20,000 tubes, a request Mark Adler with Meals on Wheels thought was too big.
“They came and gave us 20,000 tubes of hand sanitizer. It was really critical. We provide meals to people who are stranded in their homes but we don’t have the resources to provide things like PPP, hand sanitizer, and masks. So the donation of hand sanitizer enabled all of our clients [and] volunteers to get three tubs,” said Adler.
The donations went beyond South Florida. Kira Labs donated a full truckload a day, which equaled to 16 million ounces to healthcare workers in New York.
“Primarily when the crisis began and the some places were converted into field hospitals, we got to work right away,” said Rosen.
Kira Labs plans to give away one million tubes. Organizations in need can fill out a donation request form online.
