LVMH Makes ‘Major’ Donation to French Hospital Charity
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HEALTH CHAMPIONS: LVMH Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton has made its most sizable charity donation to date as part of its efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The luxury conglomerate has made a “major contribution” to La Fondation H?pitaux de Paris — H?pitaux de France (FHP-HF), the French charity said on its Instagram account on Thursday.
A spokesman for LVMH confirmed there was a donation, but declined to provide additional details. A source familiar with the group said the amount was “several tens of millions of euros” and would benefit 52 hospitals in France and its overseas territories supported by FHP-HF, which is headed by French First Lady Brigitte Macron.
“Thank you very much to the LVMH group for its major contribution to this decisive phase in our support towards hospitals,” the FHP-HF post said.
Founded in 1989, the charity funds more than 15,400 projects in French hospitals. Earlier this week, it received a donation of 1 million euros from Mayhoola, the parent company of Balmain, Valentino and Pal Zileri.
LVMH in late January pledged 16 million renminbi, or $2.3 million at the time, to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation to help alleviate the urgent medical supplies shortage in Wuhan.
Meanwhile, LVMH-owned jeweler Bulgari in February pitched in with a donation to the research department of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, one of the first medical teams to isolate the DNA of the deadly COVID-19 disease.
LVMH has ordered 40 million masks from a Chinese industrial supplier to address the shortage in French hospitals. In addition, it has retooled its perfumes and cosmetics production units to manufacture and distribute large quantities of hydroalcoholic gel, with production now averaging 60 tons a week.
Louis Vuitton and Baby Dior employees have also started producing masks in France.
Further leveraging its sourcing and logistics power, the group has purchased 261 respirators from China to address a shortage in French hospitals. The first 20 were delivered on Monday, and a further 150 are due to arrive on April 15.
La Grande Epicerie de Paris, the temple of upscale grocery shopping on the Left Bank that is currently the only LVMH-owned store still operating in France, has donated 4,000 chocolate Easter eggs to French hospital workers and their children to thank them for their tireless efforts to care for the sick.
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