American film studios, Walt Disney Company has announced that it would contribute food, masks and ponchos to help communities and health workers combat coronavirus.
In a statement released by the company, Disney stated that it had donated more than 270 tons of excess food to area food banks. It also made known that 150,000 rain ponchos, a protective gear used to protect clothing, would be donated to hospitals for health workers in need.
For this, Disney partnered with MedShare, a humanitarian aid organization which would be in charge of distributing them to hospitals in need.
Commenting on the donation and partnership, MedShare Chief Executive Officer and President Charles Redding said,
“The COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything we’ve seen before. We have to find ways to pool our resources and work together to help the healthcare workers who are doing their very best to treat patients and contain COVID-19. We appreciate Disney partnering with us to support hospitals and healthcare workers on the frontlines.”
In addition to the food and ponchos, Disney donated thousands of the N95 surgical type of masks to different states across the USA such as New York, California and Florida.
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This is not the first time Disney would be contributing to combating the virus. Before it was forced to shut down operations as part of efforts to curtail the virus spread, Disney sent out unused gloves, gowns, masks and other medical supplies to hospitals in Los Angeles. Also, area food banks in California, Georgia, New York and Canada received food donations from the company.
Meanwhile, Disney has also disclosed that its online TV streaming service Disney+ would be available for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa on regional pay television and online streaming service provider OSN from April 9. This development is happening shortly after OSN signed an exclusive distribution rights agreement with Disney.
The countries where the online streaming service would now be available in include Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among others.
