New Balance and Its Athletes Are Donating $1M in Footwear to Health Care Workers
New Balance and its star-studded roster of athletes are donating more than $1 million worth of shoes to front line health-care workers.
The Boston-based athletic company announced the donation today, which will amount to more than 13,000 pairs being delivered to health care workers during this pandemic. New Balance said it is working with hospitals in the New England area and St. Louis, which are the areas the sportswear brand has corporate operations.
The facilities New Balance is working with include Missouri Baptist and Barnes-Jewish Hospital near St. Louis and several in the New England area: Lawrence General Hospital, Mass General Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, East Boston Community Health Center, Stephens Memorial Hospital and Franklin Memorial Hospital.
“New Balance and our athletes are proud and humbled to be able to show our immense appreciation to those sacrificing so much right now during the COVID-19 crisis,” New Balance VP of global marketing Chris Davis said in a statement. “We are thankful to provide footwear to medical institutions in our communities and to help keep those working on the front lines comfortable.”
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The company has enlisted its athletes to help with this initiative including tennis star Milos Raonic, San Antonio Spurs pro basketball player Dejounte Murray, soccer standout Rose Lavelle and several others.
“As a humanity and community, we are being tested, but our heroes are the medical workers on the front lines,” Raonic said in a statement. “I am grateful for the ability to partner with my family at New Balance to show my gratitude to these heroes.”
This isn’t the only initiative that New Balance has launched to help health-care workers. The company stated today that it is scaling production and distribution of general-use face masks and is producing more than 100,000 units per week out of its factories in Lawrence, Mass., and Norridgewock, Maine.
