HanesBrands (PPAI 191138) is donating more than one million items of underwear and activewear to assist hurricane victims in Florida and Puerto Rico, and is using its operations in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to supply essentials to its employees in Puerto Rico.
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-headquartered supplier is reaching out to its 240 employees to determine their circumstances. Approximately 100 employees have reported to the company’s seamless fabric plant in Humacao, Puerto Rico, which sustained only minor damage. There have been no known fatalities of employees or family members, but five employees lost their homes in the storm.
The company is using its plant’s water wells and power generators to provide water to employees and prepare food on-site at its cafeteria. The company’s Dominican Republic operations, where the company has more than 8,000 employees, are sending shipments of bottled water, packaged food rations for families, and clothing and other necessities via ferry. The company also expects to provide employees with supermarket vouchers to help sustain their families over the coming weeks. Provisions will also be shipped from the United States.
“The devastation in Puerto Rico is heartbreaking,” says Ricardo Perez, Hanes vice president of Caribbean operations and a native of Puerto Rico. “We are doing everything that we can to locate employees and provide basic sustenance as we prepare to bring back operations to further aid in the recovery efforts for employees, their families and the island. The outpouring of concern and help from our company’s employees in the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States and around the world, has been a blessing.”
In addition to helping its employees, Hanes is donating more than one million items of apparel through nonprofit charity Delivering Good to assist hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and Florida. Previously, the company donated more than one million items of apparel to hurricane flooding victims in Texas and the Gulf Coast.
The donated apparel includes underwear, intimate apparel, socks, t-shirts, and fleece sweatshirts and bottoms. Delivering Good, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit relief charity, will arrange for the goods to get to appropriate relief efforts in Florida and Puerto Rico.
Delivering Good (formerly K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers) serves the clothing, home and children’s industries by distributing donated products to those in need. To help Delivering Good in its relief efforts, visit www.delivering-good.org/disaster-relief/ to donate new apparel or cash. For every $10 donated allows Delivering Good to distribute more than $100 of new, useful product.