Emergency Relief
As global corporate citizens, Avon Products, Inc. and the Avon Foundation for Women together respond quickly to national and international emergencies. Since 2001 more than $17.7 million has been awarded for women and their families affected by natural disasters or crises, including: the Avon Heart of America Fund to support families of those lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001; the Avon Yellow Ribbon Fund to assist military service personnel lost or wounded in Iraq and other armed conflicts; the Avon Heart of Asia campaign to assist victims of the tsunami in southeast Asia; extensive fundraising and product donations for relief efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; and aid for relief and reconstruction efforts following the earthquake in China in 2008.
Most recently Avon Products Inc. announced an initial $1 million donation to the Avon Foundation for Women to support relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010. Click here to learn more. The Avon Foundation provided $500,000 of that donation to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for Haitian Relief and the other $500,000 to Doctors Without Borders for their life-saving work in Haiti. Both organizations are deeply involved in the relief efforts to address critical needs for water, food, shelter and medical help.
Avon North American Sales Representatives raised an additional $1,068,473 by selling Skin So Soft products. Avon donated $.50 from the purchase of every full size Skin So Soft Product (excluding deodorant) ordered through Campaign 6 in March of 2010. Avon Representatives and customers donated an additional $41,344 directly to the Avon Foundation for Haiti relief efforts.
The grants awarded include:
- $256,845 to Concern Worldwide, an organization that has had operations in Haiti for the past 16 years overseeing health, water, sanitation, education, jobs and peace building projects.
- $286,613 to the international women's human rights group, MADRE,in partnership with the grassroots Hatian Organization, KOFAVIV, to launch a new women's center in Haiti.
- $45,000 to Project Hope (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) for the purchase, shipment, and installation of a new rehabilitation clinic to be housed on the grounds of Hospital Adventiste d'Haiti in Duquini, Haiti.
- $520,000 to Partners in Health to support the development of a breast cancer care program in Haiti.
History of Emergency Relief Efforts
In response to China’s Sichuan Province 2008 earthquake, Avon Products, Inc. gave $5 million to the Avon Foundation for Women to support several programs including: a $500,000 grant to Project Hope to implement rehabilitation training for health care providers, upgrade community and city facilities used for rehabilitation services and to develop a center for rehabilitation medicine in China’s Sichuan Province; and a $4.5 million grant to Give2Asia in support of two programs. The first gift helped build the Deyang City Breast Cancer Prevention Network facility at the Deyang People’s Hospital. This center will carry out breast cancer prevention and treatment; public surveys, research and education; and doctor training. In partnership with the China Women’s Development Foundation, the second gift will support the Mothers’ Safe and Sound Home Project to construct 1,300 homes for women and their families and 12 libraries /activity centers in the region.
Following Hurricane Katrina, Avon Products, Inc. and the Avon Foundation made cash donations of more than $800,000, provided 20 truckloads of products, and created the Heart of America Key Chain sold by Avon Sales Representatives to raise additional funds. Grants were made for immediate relief efforts as well as to the Foundation for the Mid South to create the Avon Foundation Housing Program Fund. The Avon Foundation also awarded grants to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Louisiana and Mississippi Coalitions Against Domestic Violence, to help domestic violence victims in the affected areas, and to the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta to support breast cancer patients who were transferred to Winship from medical centers affected by the hurricane.
From 2003 to 2006, Avon Sales Representatives sold the Avon Yellow Ribbon Pin and raised $3 million to assist the families of military service personnel lost or wounded in Iraq and other armed conflicts, as well as for a unique new state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility, the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas.
In response to the December 2004 Tsunami in Asia, the Avon Foundation immediately awarded $550,000 for urgent relief efforts and Avon launched the Heart of Asia pin in the United States and other countries, bringing total support to over $1 million.
To support families and children of those lost in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Special Heart of America pins sold by Avon Sales Representatives raised an extraordinary $7 million for the Avon Heart of America Fund.
