In light of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in South Africa, Willowton Group has donated over 750,000 bars of soap, worth around R5-million to young learners and selected old-age homes and frail care centres across the country to promote good hand hygiene and help play a role in curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
Founded in 1970, Willowton Group is a family-owned business made up of oil and cake mills. In 1978 the second diversification was initiated, which included soap. The main equipment included saponification, spray dryers, plodders and stampers, which were purchased from Europe. According to Unicef “during a global pandemic, one of the cheapest, easiest, and most important ways to prevent the spread of a virus is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water”.
In partnership with Willowton, Pick n Pay helped to distribute the soaps to 600 schools through their School Club network, a public-private education platform that reaches over two million learners a year. 392,040 bars of soap were delivered in Gauteng, 180,000 soap bars will be donated to KwaZulu-Natal schools and 174,120 soap bars have been allocated to the Western Cape, and parts of the Eastern Cape. The schools received the donations ahead of school closures and the Pick n Pay School Club programme will continue to handle the distribution of donations to communities in the weeks to follow.
David Sweidan, Willowton Group Marketing Executive, said that through this campaign they want to assist in educating communities on the right way to wash their hands. “Not all families have access to this information, either because they are located in remote areas or communication isn’t in their home language.”The selected schools will also receive printed posters in English and Zulu to show learners how to wash their hands properly.
These posters where be placed throughout the schools as a visual reminder to learners. On the other hand, Pick n Pay stores have also placed good hand hygiene posters in their stores and will distribute leaflets to stores for increased awareness amongst customers.
Pallets of soap have also been allocated to old age homes and frail care centres in need. “In challenging times, we will always take whatever steps we can to help and support those who are most vulnerable. By partnering with suppliers, like Willowton, we can make a real difference in times of need,” said Ackerman-Berman, Pick n Pay Board Member.
