LANSING, Mich. — Today, Governor Whitmer welcomed a $1.2M donation from IKEA Retail U.S. that will go to Michigan’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Initiative. The donation is the largest donation to the fund to date and will help support Michigan’s ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts and other critical services.
“Michigan families, frontline workers, and small businesses have done their part to slow the spread of the virus, but the fight is not over yet. I am grateful that IKEA has stepped up during this difficult time to ensure we have the funding we need to provide critical services to Michiganders impacted by COVID-19,” said Governor Whitmer. “This donation will be crucial to saving lives and providing much-needed support throughout our COVID-19 response.”
IKEA has continued to follow Governor Whitmer’s orders to protect the health and safety of both employees and customers. After Governor Whitmer signed her Stay Home Stay Safe to protect Michiganders, IKEA closed its retail location to align with the governor’s order and protect their staff and customers from the virus. Now IKEA is giving back to ensure the state has the funding to provide essential services and goods to those who need it most.
“We are appreciative of the ongoing support from the state of Michigan, including the unemployment funds paid to our co-workers who were furloughed in the early weeks of the pandemic,” said Javier Quiñones, IKEA Retail U.S. president. “People are the heart of our business, and the state unemployment benefits helped IKEA US co-workers during a difficult time. We now have a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on our business, and we’ve decided to “pay it forward” to support the ongoing COVID-19 Response and Recovery Initiative in our local communities.”
The Michigan COVID-19 Response and Recovery Initiative helps leverage federal resources, including FEMA funds, that require a match to provide critical services and needs to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations are allocated to allocated to provide food and water, education support for children, and personal protective equipment, and other essential activities as needs are identified.
Over the past 5 months, businesses have continued to step up to fight the virus. This month, the Ford Motor Company partnered with the state to donate 1.5 million masks that will go directly to low-income schools, the City of Detroit, Federally Qualified Health Centers, some COVID-19 testing sites and to many of the organizations. Additionally, CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreen’s all partnered with the state to expanded Michigan’s testing capacity which helped to flatten the curve and control the spread of COVID-19.