BuzzBallz, LLC/Southern Champion Creates and Donates 18,000 Gallons of Hand Sanitizer Nationwide
CARROLLTON, Texas – On Friday, March 20, the CEO and founder of BuzzBallz, LLC/Southern Champion, Merrilee Kick, decided to adjust operations from solely cocktail production to add the creation of hand sanitizer, which would be donated to health care facilities, municipalities, and retail personnel in Texas. This decision was reached after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an emergency allowance for distillery owners to create hand sanitizer, which lifted customary limitations.
That day, Kick contacted the Vice President of Sourcing and Supply Chain Management at Texas Health Resources, Nate Mickish, to see if hand sanitizer was needed.
“He said, ‘three out of their 14 hospitals were in dire need of hand sanitizer,’ so, I rallied our team…,” Kick said. “We also had a call from ProPath, which handles the pathology labs in North Texas.”
After consulting the World Health Organization guidelines to create the formula and assembling a volunteer team of salaried employees, the company initially created and donated around 100 gallons of hand sanitizer to North Texas hospitals, local fire and police departments and US postal workers.
Since March 21, the company has produced 18,000 gallons of hand sanitizer which has also been allocated to essential workers nationwide at Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, various grocery stores and Army bases in the US and Europe.
The estimated value of the 18,000-gallon batch of hand sanitizer is more than $500,000.
#####
About BuzzBallz/Southern Champion, LLC
BuzzBallz/Southern Champion, LLC is a woman-owned and family-operated Texas distillery and winery founded in 2009 as the result of Merrilee Kick’s master’s degree thesis project. In a little over 10 years, BuzzBallz/Southern Champion, LLC has greatly expanded its product base and begun to grow into a worldwide brand. As the only combined distillery and winery in the US that is woman owned, this company has gained significant recognition, boasting distribution in 45 states, several countries abroad and growing. The company maintains a fun brand message as they create high-quality, premixed cocktails, as well as small-batch spirits. Learn more at: http://www.southern-champion.com/ and www.buzzballz.com.
Contact:
Kim Diggs, PR/Communication Manager
972-439-1879 ext. 134
[email protected]