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Adcock Ingram Adds Water for Life

Media Release

Monday, 25 January 2016

Adcock Ingram Adds Water for Life

In keeping with its brand promise of ‘Adding Value to Life’, Adcock Ingram has added its weight to drought relief through a much-needed donation to the hard-hit area of Viljoenskroon in the Northern Free State.

On Saturday 23 January, a team of volunteers from the pharmaceutical manufacturer arrived with a donation of water, wheelbarrows, food and clothing for the community. The company donated a total of thirty thousand litres of water in 1 200 x 25 litre containers as well as 200 wheelbarrows. In the next few weeks a further seventy five thousand litres of water, also packed in 25 litre containers, will be donated by Adcock Ingram to various drought-stricken sites. 

The concept of the donation was inspired by marketers of Adcock Ingram brands, Panado and Compral, who supplied similar water containers and wheelbarrows as prizes to their informal sector wholesale customers in December 2015. “We realized that our wholesale customers in the informal sector struggle to carry the stock that they buy from us as they lack transport. We then also learned that people in poorer communities were battling to transport fresh water to their homes and thus rolled out the campaign as a very successful solution to both these problems,” commented Juliet Fourie, MD of the Adcock Ingram Consumer Division.

“The knowledge of the drought devastation in the Free State motivated us to use the same items to assist this community in-need. We produced enough containers to carry the thirty thousand litres of water to the Viljoenskroon community members and supplied the wheelbarrows to assist the community in transporting water and other essential items, such as firewood, to their homes. It was an honour and a privilege to participate and the great appreciation of the community members has strengthened our resolve to do more. Our country is in desperate need of rain. No one can change the weather, but that doesn’t mean we should stand idly by while the country dies of thirst. If we stand together - as a country, as communities, as companies - we can all do something to help,” concluded Fourie.

Viljoenskroon, which is a maize and cattle farming community approximately 60km from Potchefstroom in the Northern Free State, has been identified as one of the worst-hit areas by the current drought.

“From the Rammulotsi / Viljoenskroon Community Forum, we would like to thank Adcock Ingram and their personnel for the goods received and delivered to our community. Nothing we say can repay them for their kindness and willingness to assist people during the drought,” said Nico Palm, one of the Community Forum leaders.