World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day

P&G continues long-standing partnership with the British Red Cross, making significant pledge to support COVID-19 relief efforts

Today marks World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day – an annual celebration of the Red Cross and Red Crescent work across the world. To celebrate, we have today announced a donation of £100,000 to the British Red Cross, to continue our support of its vital work on the COVID-19 relief effort.

The donation forms part of our Lead with Love campaign – a global P&G initiative through which we have committed to undertake 2,021 Acts of Good throughout 2021; for our communities, equality and the planet we share. The funding will enable the British Red Cross to continue to deliver a number of critical initiatives to support vulnerable people impacted by Covid-19 in the UK. This could include providing practical and emotional support to people in need through their coronavirus support line, helping people resettle safely back into their homes after a hospital visit, supporting the national vaccination programme, providing access to wheelchairs and other mobility aids as well as food and medicine deliveries to help vulnerable people remain safe and well at home during the pandemic.

Commenting on the donation, Simon Lewis MBE, Head of Crisis Response at the British Red Cross, said: “We are delighted to receive this donation from P&G. For 150 years, the British Red Cross has been there for people during the darkest times – and coronavirus is no exception. With the support from P&G, the British Red Cross has been able to continue helping the most vulnerable and those in crisis. In the UK, we’ve reached over 1.5 million people with our services since March 2020, providing food, medications, and transport to and from hospital to name a few. We look forward to continuing this valued partnership with P&G.”

Globally, P&G is a long-standing partner of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), supporting those in need around the world. This has been more important than ever over the last 14 months, during which both P&G and the Red Cross Red Crescent have undertaken numerous projects to support the COVID-19 relief effort.

Locally, the two organisations have worked together during the first and subsequent waves of the coronavirus pandemic. This included monetary donations at both a corporate level and through P&G brands like Herbal Essences, in addition to utilising our innovation agility to manufacture much-needed products, such as hand sanitiser. The amount donated to the British Red Cross, Irish Red Cross and Swedish Red Cross is equivalent to 1.5 million hand washes.

Discussing P&G’s partnership with the British Red Cross, Tom Moody, Senior Vice President and General Manager, P&G Northern Europe, said: “We are proud to be a long-standing partner of both the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies globally and the British Red Cross locally. The organisation continues to deliver vitally important work as we navigate the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. We are humbled to be able to support critical initiatives, including the coronavirus support line and supporting those as they resettle back into their homes.

“As we look ahead towards recovery, our response to COVID-19 remains consistent with three clear priorities – protecting the safety and wellbeing of our employees, ensuring our operations continue to run so our products reach those who need them, and to support community efforts to help the vulnerable and those on the frontline. We are eternally grateful to organisations like the British Red Cross, in addition to the millions of other frontline and essential workers that have kept the country safe, our businesses moving, and communities supported. Better days are ahead.”

If you need support, you can contact the British Red Cross’ Coronavirus Support Line free and confidentially from 10am to 6pm daily on 0808 196 3651. For more information on other UK Services, please click here. To find out more about the British Red Cross, click here.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bold®, Braun®, Daz®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Herbal Essences®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, Tampax®, Venus® and Vicks®.

Although headquartered in the US, P&G was founded by an Englishman and an Irishman in 1837, our heritage lives on through the work of around 2500 people across 10 sites, including R&D Centres, Manufacturing Plants and Business sites, across the UK & Ireland.

Beyond our Purpose, Values & Principles, the foundation on which P&G was built and our guiding force for over 180 years, we aspire to be a force for good, and a force for growth. Through our citizenship priorities, we want to build a better world for all of us - inside and outside of P&G - free from gender bias, with equal voice and equal representation. Environmental sustainability is embedded into our business, and has been for decades, and we have a strong track record of delivering on our goals in this area. We support communities around the world through our people, our brands and our partners by delivering the comforts of home, health and hygiene.

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