Farms.com Home   Ag Industry News

Ont. distilleries helping fight COVID-19

Ont. distilleries helping fight COVID-19

Multiple businesses are using alcohol to make hand sanitizer

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Members of Ontario’s agri-food sector are joining the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Multiple distilleries across the province have answered Premier Doug Ford’s call for industries, if possible, to shift production to manufacture items for healthcare workers and communities.

“If you can retool your business to make these products, if you can supply these essential items, we need to hear from you right now,” Premier Ford said on March 21. “If you need funding to make it happen, we’ll find a way to help you.”

Dairy Distillery in Almonte, Ont. is one business that has stopped its vodka production to make hand sanitizer for those individuals who need it most.

“We started getting calls just over a week ago from charity groups and the Ottawa Hospital to say they’re completely out of sanitizer and can’t get any for weeks,” Omid McDonald, founder and CEO of Dairy Distillery, told Farms.com.

“So, we decided to stop all vodka production because frontline people in hospitals and paramedics need sanitizer. It was a pretty straightforward decision for us to help out.”

McDonald’s operation can produce about 1,500 litres of sanitizer each week. In addition to the hand sanitizer, the distillery plans to make a surface sanitizer.

Dairy Distillery purchased all the ingredients and had suppliers pitch in with free shipping, he said.

McDonald thanked those individuals facing the coronavirus head on.

“We’re a small part of this,” he said. “The real heroes are the doctors, nurses and others who are caring for people affected by the virus.”

A distillery in Sudbury is also using its alcohol to make sanitizers.

Crosscut Distillery put some of its resources into making 100-ml bottles of the product.

“We made it available for two hours (on March 21) and went through 100 bottles,” Shane Prodan, owner of the distillery, told CTV News. “We obviously want to supply those who need it most, who are on the frontlines, so (distribution is) shifting. We don’t know that we’ll be able to keep it for the public at the rate we are going through it but for now we do make it available.”

The Ontario government has created a website, Ontario Together, for any businesses interested in making products available to frontline health care workers.


Trending Video

Com-Gen Lunch #5 - Solar on Every Rooftop in the Bow Valley

Video: Com-Gen Lunch #5 - Solar on Every Rooftop in the Bow Valley

Sometimes community renewable energy does not have to be one solar or wind project in a community. At the Com-Gen Lunch on June 26th, 2020, Jodi Conuel of the Bow Valley Green Energy Co-operative outlined the organization's vision for making renewable energy affordable and accessible for people in their community. But how?

Jodi Conuel explains by pooling financial resources within the community, Bow Valley Green Energy will fund rooftop solar projects and other forms of community renewable energy. The energy is either sold back to the grid or the owner of the building where the install is, for example. Profits are shared among investors and invested into community projects.

The video will provide you with a great 'playbook' on how to form a community renewable energy co-operative and point out some of the challenges you may face. For Jodi and Bow Valley Green Energy it is important to not only see this initiative succeed in their community, but to inspire similar initiatives across Alberta as well.

Community Generation Network is made up of community groups, co-ops, installers, municipalities and individuals in Alberta who are interested in creating community renewable energy projects (i.e. renewable energy projects that generate benefits for communities beyond electricity). The Com-Gen Lunch is a biweekly opportunity to discuss the community benefits of developing your own community renewable energy projects with peers and partners and hear success stories from right here in Alberta. It is hosted by the Alberta Community and Co-operative Association and Rural Routes to Climate Solutions

 

Comments


Your email address will not be published