Following the devastation of Hurricane Ian in Florida, Bradley Corp. has donated hand sanitizer dispensers and supplies to support hand hygiene of community members helping with relief efforts.

The product donation came about when Bradley's national sales manager, Brian Jurkiewicz, and regional sales manager, Mike Logan, brainstormed with Karen Lott, Bradley territory business manager, to determine the most impactful ways to help ongoing aid and cleanup endeavors.

"Places like fire stations, hospitals, veterinary clinics and food banks were overrun with people – and many of these facilities had no access to running water for handwashing," said Karen Lott, Bradley territory business manager. "Since Bradley manufactures products that support hand hygiene, we thought we could help by providing hand sanitizing equipment to disinfect hands of those working the front lines.

The donation included gallons of hand sanitizer gel, a pallet of stainless steel hand sanitizer dispensers – with stand-alone and wall-mounted units – and batteries to operate the dispensers.

Lott said she knew Fort Myers-based Suncoast Supply Coand Sean Filiault, outside sales representative for Suncoast, would make a great partner for coordinating the distribution of donation. "Sean didn't skip a beat in helping us disperse the dispensers and supplies to groups of community members exactly where they were needed," she said.

Bringing this idea to fruition was no easy feat in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which strengthened to a Category 4 storm as it made landfall west of Fort Myers, Florida on Sept. 28. A few days after, Lott drove to Fort Myers to deliver the hand sanitizing equipment to Suncoast only to find houses were still under water, roadways were blocked with uprooted trees and branches, and the national guard was directing alternate traffic routes. "The area was completely devastated," she recalled.

"We were more than happy to partner with Bradley to execute their very generous offer to help our community," Filiault said. "Even months after storm, these hand sanitizing dispensers are still being donated to facilities helping our community. I recently dropped off hand sanitizing equipment to a local restaurant that is heavily rooted in local foster care donations, as I knew they are and have been providing free meals to the community since the storm. Hand sanitation in places like these should be priority."