Oct 17, 2018

IHA members can donate inventory to aid hurricane victims

Victims of Hurricane Michael also will receive assistance from Good360, the charity the International Housewares Association has partnered with to provide hurricane victims with home goods products as they rebuild their lives and homes. Last month IHA announced its partnership with Good360 to help the Carolinas recover from Hurricane Florence.

Hurricane Michael made landfall on Oct. 10, near Mexico Beach, Florida, as a Category 4 hurricane, shredding the area with its 155-mph winds and a devastating storm surge, leaving entire neighborhoods in ruins. Catastrophic scenes have also emerged across other parts of the Florida Panhandle, and Michael has left more than 1 million homes and businesses without power. After slamming Florida and Georgia, Michael moved northeast through the already storm-weary Carolinas where tornadoes, high winds and additional heavy rainfall hit many of the same areas recently hit by Hurricane Florence.  Michael also caused flash floods in parts of North Carolina and southern Virginia.

Good360 is pre-positioning and distributing critically needed product in strategic locations in the southeast. They will be ready with needed goods for all stages of the recovery process and are prepared to deploy those goods via their trusted nonprofit and response agency partners who are on the ground. Current needs include personal items, hygiene products, safety items, pillows/sheets/blankets and cleaning supplies. Any products IHA members can provide will be managed by Good360, and working with FEMA, Good360 will deliver donations to those in need.

When making a donation, companies should note that they are members of IHA to help Good360 track the donations. Companies can also request their donations go to a specific area of need.

Members with questions about donating product can contact Jim Alvey, Good360’s director of corporate development, at jalvey@good360.org or 703 299-7554 or visit Good360.org for more information.

Good360 is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit that works with companies, charities and individuals to make the business of giving simpler, more efficient and more effective. The Alexandria, Va.-based organization was created in 1983 to help companies donate inventory to charitable organizations.

The International Housewares Association is the 80-year-old voice of the housewares industry, which accounted for (US)$355.4 billion at retail worldwide in 2016 ($87.1 billion at retail in the U.S.). The not-for-profit, full-service association sponsors the world’s premier exposition of products for the home, the International Home + Housewares Show, and offers its 1,700 member companies a wide range of services, including industry and government advocacy, export assistance, State-of-the-Industry reports, point-of-sale and consumer panel data through Housewares MarketWatch, executive management peer groups, a unique Web-based community at www.housewares.org and group buying discounts on business solutions services.