After issuing more than $2 million in grants and in-kind support to help China and Italy fight the coronavirus outbreak, Coca-Coca Co. now is doing so in its own backyard as North America faces a surge in cases.
The beverage giant’s foundation announced $13.5 million in grants Friday in the U.S. and Canada, mostly targeted to organizations that will aid with food distribution as the government asks citizens to stay home to stem the virus’s spread. The Canada donations include $750,000 each to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada and Food Banks Canada.
That comes on top of a $5 million grant to the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the United Way to help meet immediate needs in vulnerable communities locally.
As of March 10, Coke had asked most of its 6,500 employees in Atlanta to work remotely, with a tentative plan to resume normal operations by April 13.
It had already instituted a variety of sanitation measures globally to ensure the safety of workers involved in distribution and manufacturing of Coke products.
Coke bottlers were among those in China that were issued early government approval to reopen their plants after the Chinese New Year, when most were closed to stem the spread of Covid-19 across the country where it originated.
Read more on the donations here.
