When there is an emergency, we are always there. Therefore, for the Coronavirus we have been on the front line since the beginning of March, when the pandemic also exploded in Italy. We have raised 11 million euros, with over 16 thousand donations from 70 countries around the world. Resources that immediately turned into practical projects for the health system, schools, small businesses, the elderly and families.
In the first weeks, to protect doctors, nurses and rescuers, we purchased and distributed over one million items of PPE to 136 companies in Piedmont: masks, gloves, gowns, caps, visors. We donated 150 pieces of equipment, including two CAT machines, to about twenty hospitals in the area. Together with our partner Lavazza, we organized and financed a flight to bring 38 Cuban doctors and nurses, specialized in emergencies, to Italy: for months they worked in the Covid Hospital set up at the OGR in Turin.
To help the elderly, we delivered 5,400 free shopping packages in the first weeks of the lockdown. We have brought food to 1000 needy Turin families and in 2020 we will help a total of 3000, with economic support. With the “Specchio d’Italia” project we are replicating the distribution of these food packages in six regions and twenty cities: by October we will have given away over 17,000 shopping packages.
We have offered 250 schools practical resources to sanitize the environments; to encourage distance learning we have bought 1000 tablets with sim and Internet connection. They have been assigned to the poorest pupils. For small businesses in difficulty due to the lockdown we have allocated 1.6 million euros and 430 subsidies, promoting three tenders in Turin, Cuneo (near the Langhe) and in Sassari (in Sardinia). A fundamental contribution for artisans, traders and restaurateurs who are the soul of our cities and the symbol of made in Italy.