Junction 56 Distillery Sanitizer Bottle

Date2020

Dimensions27 × 8.9 cm (10 5/8 × 3 1/2 in.)

Credit LineGift of Diane Mavers, London, Ontario, 2021.

Object number2021.008.001

Label TextOn March 18th 2020 the personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene shelves were empty as the first COVID-19 Pandemic wave swept through Southwestern Ontario. The Stratford business Junction 56 Distillery, along with other distilleries and breweries, switched their production to Hand Sanitizer to make up for the dearth of products. The switch in production was made after Ontario Premier Doug Ford called on industries (March 21, 2020) in the province to help fill the need for medical supplies in any way they could. Junction 56 Distillery helped to supply sanitizing products to local hospitals and long-term care homes in the area, and prioritized distribution to front line workers. Steve and Diane Mavers were part of neither of those prioritized groups. In talking about the donation Steve shares; "Because Diane is immune compromised, we needed to access to hand sanitizer for her daily medical procedures and quickly ran out of it. Fortunately, as you know a number of local breweries and distilleries have turned their production to making hand sanitizer. We found ours in Stratford, courtesy of the "Junction 56" distillery. We picked up four bottles and are now set for the "duration". Our usual trips to Stratford have been to see the wonderful Theatre productions, but this trip was very different." Diane elaborates with how crucial sanitizing products are for them outside of the Pandemic by saying, “It is a bottle of hand sanitizer that we purchased very early on in the pandemic last year when regular sanitizer was extremely scarce. Since I hook up every evening to an IV pump for nutrition, it is important to keep my equipment sterile to prevent blood infections. Steve and I drove out to the Junction 56 Distillery in Stratford after we ordered 4 bottles of sanitizer on-line for curbside pick-up.”

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