Toy Companies Launch New Initiatives to Aid Communities Impacted by Pandemic

May 12, 2020 | Below is the latest roundup of toy companies assisting all those impacted by COVID-19. Many toy companies are focusing their attention toward providing additional aid to at-risk and underserved communities through food assistance and supplies.

Bandai Namco Group

SEEDS, a subsidiary of the Bandai Namco Group, has manufactured and donated 10,000 sets of face shields to hospitals and medical groups in Japan and aims to produce an additional 60,000 sets of face shields per month.

Chalk of the Town 

Now through June 15, Chalk of the Town is donating 10 percent of its profits to City Harvest, a New York City food rescue organization that deliver excess food, free of charge, to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other partners throughout the city. City Harvest’s corporate partner Black Rock is also matching all donations dollar-for-dollar through June 30 so all donations made by Chalk of the Town will have an even bigger impact, said Chalk of the Town founder and chief chalking officer Sondra Gross Mansfield.

Disney

Disney is donating all profits (up to $1 million) from the sales of its new licensed cloth face masks to Medshare, through September 30, and donating one million cloth face masks to children and families in underserved and vulnerable communities across the U.S.

Plus-Plus USA

Plus-Plus USA teamed up with Mill Village Farms, a local farm-to-market charity in Greenville, S.C. to help boost food distribution throughout the community during the pandemic. Plus-Plus donated unused warehouse space to the charity, which has allowed the charity to move from bi-weekly to weekly food distribution and help deliver five tons of fresh food to hard-hit families. The company also added toy donations to the distributed food cartons. Plus-Plus said it will continue to donate the use of its warehouse space, loading docks, and equipment for as long as it's needed.

For more examples of how the toy community is giving back, click here. How is your company helping amid the pandemic? To have your initiatives featured, please submit them to jlynch@toyassociation.org.