Warwick Rotary invited sisters Ciara & Seanna Hamill, two enterprising local young people, to a Zoom meeting this week and were joined by other Rotarians from all over the country keen to hear about the project.
At the beginning of the pandemic the two sisters found that their health care worker mother was lacking in PPE, and locally they found shortages, inflated prices and dubious products. The two sisters went about sourcing a hand sanitising gel from a whisky distiller in Ireland who had switched production to assist in containing the virus.
Members heard how they set up their own not-for-profit company (SanHanzUK) and have now supplied almost 2,000 bottles of hand sanitiser free of charge to frontline workers, local schools, care homes, charities and foodbanks.
Bottles are also sold to individuals and sports clubs and businesses to help them re-open, and to date they have distributed 10,000 bottles, reaching markets across the UK, in Spain and Brazil! The product called SanHanz is amongst only 20% such products compliant with EN14476 standard. They are believers in Conscious Capitalism and have used the profits to sponsor the local foodbank. Sales are organised using Social Media where they have over 10,000 followers.
Both Ciara and Seanna are now involved with Rotaract – (Rotary for younger members) and will be joint Presidents of Rotaract Social Innovation Network – Rotary’s newest youth entrepreneurs club. If you’re a teen/millennial they are keen for you to get in touch about getting involved and the brilliant benefits of joining in.
A number of other Rotaractors joined the meeting – Michael Ziedins from London & e-club; Maria Muchova, Birmingham Rotaract talked about getting young people involved with their communities with projects such as Clean Up Britain and Bee Bombing wildlife meadows as well as the widespread use of social media.
Thanking them for their presentation, Past District Governor Bala Jaspal complimented them on their determination and inspiration, suiting our motto “Service above Self” and wished them well in the future.
If you are interested in SanHanz please get in touch on Facebook @SanHanzUK; Twitter @SanHanzUK; Facebook @SanHanzUK; or Email SanHanzUK@gmail.com
for Rotaract www.rotarygbi.org or Facebook @Rotaract Social Innovation;.
