HanesBrands donated more than 2 million pieces of underwear and activewear apparel to assist 2017 hurricane victims in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
In addition, Hanes used its operations in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the United States to provide critically needed aid to Puerto Rico employees and others.
In the midst of power grid and telecommunications infrastructure failures in Puerto Rico, Hanes canvassed its 240 employees to determine their circumstances. No known fatalities of employees or family members occurred, but five employees had their homes completely destroyed.
The company used the water wells and power generators at its Humacao seamless fabric plant to provide water to employees and prepare food on site at its cafeteria. The company’s Dominican Republic operations, where the company has more than 8,000 employees, sent shipments of bottled water, packaged food rations for families, clothing, and other necessities via ferry. The company also provided employees with supermarket vouchers to help sustain their families in the aftermath and recovery period. Provisions were also shipped from the United States.
“The devastation in Puerto Rico is heartbreaking,” said Ricardo Perez, Hanes’ vice president of Caribbean operations and a native of Puerto Rico. “We are doing everything that we can to locate employees and provide basic sustenance as we prepare to bring back operations to further aid in the recovery efforts for employees, their families, and the island. The outpouring of concern and help from our company’s employees in the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States and around the world, has been a blessing.”
In addition to providing aid to its employees, Hanes donated more than 1 million items of apparel through nonprofit charity Delivering Good to assist hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and Florida. Previously, the company donated more than 1 million items of apparel to Hurricane Harvey flooding victims in Texas and the Gulf Coast.
Since 2007, Hanes has donated more than $8 million in apparel and cash, including more than 5 million items of clothing, to victims of natural disasters around the world. Hanes has helped victims of the following natural disasters:
- 2017 – Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico
- 2017 – Hurricane Irma, Florida
- 2017 – Hurricane Harvey, Texas
- 2016 – California wildfires
- 2016 – Hurricane Matthew, North Carolina
- 2016 – Louisiana flooding
- 2012 – Hurricane Sandy, East Coast
- 2011 – Midwest and Southeast tornados (including Joplin, Missouri)
- 2011 – Japan earthquake and tsunami
- 2010 – Haiti earthquake
- 2010 – Gulf Coast oil spill
- 2009 – Costa Rica earthquake
- 2009 – Typhoon Ketsana, Philippines
- 2009 – Hurricane Ida, El Salvador
- 2008 – Sichuan Province, China, earthquake
- 2007 – Tropical Storm Noel, Dominican Republic
- 2005 – Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Gulf Coast