“When combined in countries experiencing war, poverty, and instability, COVID-19 creates a perfect storm of factors that will exacerbate existing challenges many women and girls in these settings experience, including gender-based violence (GBV),” explains Michelle Nunn, CARE President and CEO, in a recent Mary Kay media release.
“We need to ensure that the emergency response to COVID-19 doesn’t forget society’s most marginalized and vulnerable people,” she says, adding that, “The Mary Kay Foundation’s generous donation will help to keep women and girls safe from GBV and other threats during this time of crisis.”
Her remarks come in response to the beauty company’s donation of hand sanitizer to CARE, which is working in over 60 developing countries to help limit the impact of the Coronavirus crisis.
Mary Kay is giving support to domestic violence shelters in Canada
And just last week, the beauty company announced new grants as well as donations of hand sanitzer to close to 50 shelters across Canada. Each domestic violence shelter will receive a grant of $2,000.
“Studies show during periods of national and global crisis, we see a dramatic in the frequency and severity of domestic violence situations,” Lynda Rose, Mary Kay Cosmetics Ltd. General Manager and board member of the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, reminds the press.
“It is our hope,” she says, “that these supplies and monetary donations will offer some relief for our valuable shelters across Canada to better serve the women and children in their communities.”
And, says Rose, “Our shelter grant program has been, and continues to be, a top priority for the Foundation. We stand in solidarity with those battling this pandemic on the front lines, especially domestic violence shelters who open their doors when so many are forced closed.”
Making hand sanitizer and making a difference all around the world
Mary Kay’s first batch of hand sanitizer in Canada is being shared with frontline workers this week. In March, the company made a similar donation to the Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation in Texas, where Mary Kay has its headquarters.
In Brazil, Mary Kay made donations to help produce 5,000 COVID-19 tests for hospitals, to purchase ventilators, and to help equip ICU workers in public hospitals there. In Mexico, the company is giving hand sanitizer to select communities through partnerships with Bancos de Alimentos de Mexico (foodbanks), Unidas Contigo Monterrey (a breast-cancer-awareness organization) and Fondo Semillas Mexico (a domestic-violence-prevention group).
In Russia, the company is donating hygiene products to frontline workers. And in China, Mary Kay made contributions of nutrition and personal care products to women health workers as well as a donation to the Amity Foundation (an independent organization dedicated to public health, social welfare, disaster relief, etc.).
Also, according to the company’s media release, “There are many more efforts happening around the world in countries where Mary Kay operates to support local COVID-19 relief efforts.”
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Deanna Utroske is a leading voice in the cosmetics and personal care industry as well as in the indie beauty movement. As Editor of CosmeticsDesign.com, she writes daily news about the business of beauty in the Americas region and regularly produces video interviews with cosmetics, fragrance, personal care, and packaging experts as well as with indie brand founders. To hear more good beauty industry news during the pandemic WATCH this video.
