Throughout the challenges of the coronavirus crisis, people are coming together to give back.
In Hartford, the owner of a distillery is using her business to make something virtually impossible to find, but very much needed - hand sanitizer.
The owner of Hartford Flavor Company already had the basics to make hand sanitizer, so it was a logical progression to use her tools and time to make something so desperately needed for the people in her community right now.
"One of our distilleries who has been making form great liquor for a while. They have now turned their operation to making hand sanitizer," Mayor Luke Bronin said.
The news was a reason to smile in the midst of the pandemic. One of the capital city's own small businesses is now mixing up hand sanitizer to give to essential workers.
"We make Wild Moon Liqueurs on a normal day, but this isn’t a normal day," explained owner Lelaneia Dubay.
Dubay was preparing to celebrate five years of making spirits in Hartford when the COVID-19 crisis hit and everything came to a half.
"We were on an amazing roll right before this happened. We just had our largest order by double. We had just gotten into a couple new states," Dubay said.
With uncertainty about how and when things could return to normal, she sent home her staff, but quickly realized even though she can't do business at the moment, she does have something that can help - alcohol.
"Stopped all production on that now we’re making just the hand sanitizer," she explained.
In place of the cucumber and cranberry-infused liqueurs she normally sells, Dubay is now mixing sanitizer by hand in her Parkville shop, adding aloe and essential oils. It's available at no cost for essential workers.
"We’re giving stuff to post office, police departments contacted us. Both the mayor and the governor contacted us about hand sanitizer for their stuff," she said.
Though she's focused on something charitable right now, the business isn't immune from the uncertainty this time has brought so many.
"We’re a small business without a lot of cash in the bank. So we’ll have to see how this impacts for the long haul. Like every business around we’re just trying to stay alive," she said.
She's trying to stay positive and spread a little good, because we're all in this together.
Dubay is also selling the hand sanitizer to the public glass bottles. She's using whatever she gets in sales to cover the cost of supplies so she can give more away to first responders.
For more information on Hartford Flavor, click here.
