Tuesday January 5, 2021

The bullfrogpowered community is made up of some pretty amazing businesses and individuals. Their response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that collaboration, innovation, and compassion are shining through now more than ever. We’ve seen some incredible stories from our community, from donating personal protective equipment to producing sanitizer and everything in between. We hope they inspire you too. 

From spirits to sanitizer 

Hand sanitizer has been hard to keep in stock, with many of us using it to protect ourselves and others. Fortunately, several breweries, distilleries, and local personal care companies have answered the call and are now producing sanitizer instead of their typical offerings. 

• Annex Ale Project is working with Confluence Distilling and Two Rivers Distilling to produce crisis-grade hand sanitizer in beer cans—or can-itizer, if you will. They’re donating 10% of the product to local charities and nonprofits in Calgary. 
• Steam Whistle teamed up with Spirit of York to make sanitizer, with all proceeds going to Feed Ontario—an organization dedicated to supporting food banks across the province. 
• Beau’s Brewery have also switched to producing sanitizer. The sanitizer will be produced and packaged onsite at Beau’s. It will be supplied in 3L bulk containers to front-line healthcare workers and essential businesses in Ontario.
• Nova Scotia Spirit Co. has partnered with Canadian Tire in Nova Scotia to make their sanitizer readily available to the public. They have also donated cases of their sanitizer to essential services and front-line workers.  
• King’s Lock Craft Distillery are supporting local food banks with proceeds from their hand sanitizer sales. 
• Rocky Mountain Soap Co. has upped their sanitizer production and are restocking daily. They also donate bottles of the sanitizer to shelters and public facing businesses in their area.  
• All Things Jill switched gears on their natural products and created a sanitizer spray to stock their local retailers. They have donated their hand spray to a number of local organizations, including HomeSpace Society, Alpha House, the Calgary Senior Resource Society, and Leftovers YYC.
• BASF has donated 10,000L of sanitizer to hospitals, care facilities, and other institutions in areas of high need—identified in collaboration with the provincial governments of Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. This sanitizer was produced at their Windsor plant, with some being imported from the BASF Washington facility.

Donating much-needed masks 

Our community members have also stepped up to ensure frontline workers are protected. Unilever Canada, BASF Canada, and PCL Construction have all donated masks and/or other protective equipment to frontline workers in their regions. As BASF Canada put it, “Right now helping others becomes more important than ever.” 

Feeding families and frontline workers 

As more people are turning to food banks and charities to lend a hand with their grocery needs, many bullfrogpowered businesses are giving back to their communities. Nature’s Path committed to donating $2.5 million worth of products to local charities, community groups, and hospitals across North America. Recently in B.C., they teamed up with Hippie Snacks and Fresh Direct Product to donate their products to healthcare workers at a variety of local hospitals including the Surrey Memorial Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital, and St. Paul’s Hospital. We were also proud to see Unilever Canada’s announcement that they would donate $3 million worth of food, soap, personal hygiene, and home cleaning products to support Canadians in need. 

Truefaux Films have set up an Emergency Gluten-Free Pantry, delivering free weekly boxes to members of their community with Celiac disease and gluten sensitivities who are no longer able to afford the higher cost of gluten-free groceries.

 

Lending a helping hand 

We’ve rounded up some of the other ways our community is helping flatten the curve and support frontline workers. If we missed any, please send us a note so we can celebrate and amplify the good work that’s being done! 

• To date, RBC  businesses have committed $4.5 million in support of COVID-19 community response efforts. This includes City National Bank and Wealth Management.
• Modo Yoga is offering on-demand classes on their Modo Yoga Online site to help people stay active at home. Use the code BULLFROG for your first month free!
• Buy two masks for yourself, and Etee will donate two to a local hospital. 
• Whitewater Brewing Co is providing free coffee and meals for healthcare workers.  
• Spark Power has partnered with FoodShare Toronto to help deliver their Emergency Good Food Boxes to thousands of people across the GTA facing food insecurity. To date, they’ve delivered over 360 boxes.
• BASF Canada is proud to support the Rapid Response Platform ⁠— a platform that helps companies source PPE by matching their demand with an available supply of the required item.

These businesses are proving that we can help those affected by COVID-19 while doing our part to mitigate climate change. Find out how we can fight both crises here.