In order to help in the fight against Covid-19, Whirlpool has worked to obtain several shipments of medical supplies for donation to Spectrum Health Lakeland, a health system in St. Joseph, Michigan, near the company’s Global Headquarters. Besides, Whirlpool has made a donation to a special United Way fund that’s helping food pantries with the increased traffic they are seeing due to the Coronavirus. One of those food pantries is run by Harbor of Hope Church in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Besides, the City of Fall River, Massachusetts, is home to Whirlpool Corporation’s commercial laundry manufacturing facility. So when the team at that plant found out that Solomon’s Porch, a local church, was expanding its homeless shelter, they decided to help. That aid came in the form of a commercial washer and dryer. “We’re a big part of this community – said Regional Sales Manager for Commercial Laundry Bryan Rausch -. Many of our employees live here, and at Whirlpool we have a culture and tradition of contributing wherever we can in our plant communities, so this donation made a lot of sense, especially now when the shelter is expecting more people during the Covid-19 crisis”. Whirlpool doesn’t just make donations in its plant communities. The commercial laundry team also donated four commercial Maytag brand laundry pairs to Laundry Truck LA, a free mobile laundry service for those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. This brings the number of commercial Maytag laundry pairs they can use to serve the community to a total of five. 
In addition, Whirlpool has partnered with the United Way COVID-19 Relief Fund to support Whirlpool employees and US manufacturing communities during these difficult times. The United Way Covid-19 Relief Fund was established to help local families and individuals impacted by Covid-19 including providing food assistance, emergency housing & utility assistance and childcare for essential workers. In support of manufacturing communities across the US, Whirlpool Corporation has enabled employees to make donations to the fund through a PayPal account. All donations made to this account will be matched by the Whirlpool Foundation until the end of May 2020. Distributions will be made to local United Way offices every two weeks. Finally, Whirlpool’s Clyde plant recently donated three washer/dryer pairs to The Bellevue Hospital in Bellevue, Ohio. The hospital has been serving the community for more than 100 years, including the nearby city of Clyde, where the plant builds washing machines under multiple brand names, including Whirlpool and Maytag. “With Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in very short supply for our clinical staff, we are being forced to look at alternatives – said Dennis Sabo, director of The Bellevue Hospital Foundation -. Reusable protective gowns and other supplies can be washed and dried on-site using these machines”. The plant is also donating a number of additional laundry machines to other area hospitals, including Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo. The total number of washers and dryers donated to area hospitals is 16 laundry pairs.
