Donation to St. Martin's Home
PHILIPSBURG--In an effort to assist frontline workers with much needed hand sanitizers in the midst of a global scarcity, Topper’s Rhum Distillery started making hand sanitizers at the beginning of March that are compliant with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) standards.
The hand sanitizers branded “PROTECT SXM Hand Sanitizer,” are being donated to a number of front line workers and organisations. “We are working hard to supply St. Maarten front lines,” Topper’s Rhum Distillery official Melanie Daboul said.
To date Topper’s Rhum Distillery has distributed thousands of two ounce bottles to pharmacies, bank tellers, hospital workers, the ambulance department, immigration, police officers, prison, VKS, veterinarians, Sr. Basilia Center, White and Yellow Cross Care Foundation, medical laboratories, the Mental Health Foundation, Dr. J Foundation Crisis Shelter, Sr. Basilia Center, Tom Burnett’s Player Development Foundation, New Start for Children Foundation, cashiers at grocery stores, supermarkets and other essential businesses around the island. Some of the donations were in the form of two-liter bulk containers that can be used in the recipient’s own dispensing bottles.
Daboul, who is a member of the Rotary Club of St. Maarten, enlisted the help of fellow Rotarian John Caputo of Domino’s Pizza to carry out the distribution. They brought along with them loaves of bread made from Domino’s pizza dough to distribute along with the hand sanitizer.
Donation to SMMC
“We are doing this as a humanitarian effort. Once these people working at essential businesses are taken care of and we can ramp up our production then we will start selling it to the general public. We are simply doing our part to help out our fellow St. Maarten citizens, during this critical time,” Daboul said. “Our goal is their goal to make as much as we can and as quickly as possible, until other off-island resources can replenish our nations shelves. We have received many requests from abroad to produce the hand sanitizer privately but we have refused because St. Maarten takes priority.”
She said now more than ever, it is important for everyone to do their part in helping to prevent the coronavirus COVID-19 from spreading in St. Maarten. “An important part of this is making sure that we wash our hands frequently, and for at least twenty seconds. When soap and water aren’t readily available, hand sanitizer can help in reducing the spread of COVID-19. However, hand sanitizer hasn’t been readily available on our island for some time and we’re not sure when it will be.”
Donation to the Police Force.
She said Topper’s Rhum Distillery is uniquely positioned to help fill this void as it can distill alcohol that is 96% alcohol/volume. The WHO and CDC have established certain guidelines for hand sanitizer, which ensure that it can kill the COVID-19 virus. In addition to this Daboul, who oversees all of the production said she is very familiar with the production of skin care products.
