Covid, Lavazza donates 200 thousand euros to help little companies

The Lavazza group doubles the amount available for the Specchio dei Tempi tender in favour of micro-activities in Turin and its province, in difficulty due to the pandemic. The budget for the project therefore rises to 400,000 euros and so it will be possible to offer a contribution of 2,000 euros to 200 small businesses. The company had already been close to Specchio dei tempi last spring when it made an important donation towards the many activities carried out in support of dozens of hospitals, hundreds of public assistance services and thousands of families in difficulty.

Now the grip of Covid has returned to make itself felt and Specchio has returned to the field: its invitation to organizations and companies immediately found the positive response of Lavazza who underlined, by illustrating their intervention, the need to support above all those activities that are found in the most difficult neighbourhoods of the city, where the growth of poverty related to the pandemic appears more evident and more cruel. Companies from Turin and its province with revenues of up to 40,000 euros in 2019 can participate in the tender. It is necessary to fill in the form available online here, provide the required documentation as well as a brief description of the activity and difficulties encountered during the pandemic. There is time until midnight on Monday 22 March.

Distribution in one month

The ranking, at the sole discretion of a commission appointed by Specchio dei tempi, will be completed by Easter and bank transfers will begin to be sent from 6 April. The entire operation will therefore be completed within one month. With this intervention, the small businesses supported by Specchio dei Tempi (and its national brand Specchio d’Italia) will rise to over 700 in four Italian cities: Turin, Cuneo, Sassari and Venice. For an overall total of donations close to 2.5 million euros.

Covid, Specchio back at providing PPE to hospitals and public assistance services

Specchio dei tempi returns to the field against Coronavirus. In the last weeks, requests for public assistance have become pressing again for the many ambulance services that provide transport for the sick to and from hospitals, to and from medical tents, to and from intensive care. We were ready because we hadn’t excluded the possibility of a second wave of the epidemic so we had set aside about 150,000 face masks and other PPE items during the summer. We have stepped up deliveries of supplies to health professionals following continued requests for help. In recent days ambulance services have come under pressure and we have been able to respond.

The first delivery has been made to the Green Cross of Villastellone, one of the most active organizations in the area, also engaged in the city of Turin. “As in any emergency – explained the president of Specchio dei tempi, Lodovico Passerin d’Entreves – our foundation makes itself available to the community. Ours can be a small help in the face of a great tragedy, but the commitment will always be maximum ensuring the highest speed of intervention, compatibly with the resources available”.

Then the Maria Vittoria and Martini hospitals have been supplied with Pulse oximeters. Two hundred face masks have been given to the volunteers of Telefono Rosa, who work against violence towards women, often in difficult situations in hospitals. Specchio dei tempi has also provided 1000 face masks and 30 high-protection water-repellent suits to the White Cross of Ceva.

In the first wave of the epidemic, Specchio dei tempi raised almost 11 million euros, constantly supplying Piedmontese hospitals and public assistance services for months with over 1 million protective devices, hundreds of pieces of equipment, ultrasound scanners, ventilators, as well as two CAT scanners. Specchio also distributed over 18,000 food packages to as many families and elderly people in difficulty and over 1000 tablets to poor schoolchildren to facilitate distance learning. Specchio also hired a Boeing to allow the arrival, from Havana to Turin, of the group of 40 Cuban doctors and nurses who worked in the Covid emergency hospital in Turin.

The new A&E area of the Mauriziano hospital lacked a defibrillator and Specchio dei tempi immediately intervened with Piemonte Cuore (thanks to Marcello Segre) providing the department with one of our spare automatic defibrillators.

We are on the front line. Every day.