Irmo, SC (Paul Kirby) – A Lexington County company based in the Irmo area has added a line of hand sanitizer since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. Now, the founder of that company is being a great corporate citizen by giving away 6,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to first responders that need her product.
The company, Secret of The Island, was founded 11 years ago during the H1N1 flu pandemic. According to its founder and owner Joanne Bolos, the principle behind its founding was to promote healthy hand washing. Secret of The Island first made anti-bacterial and antibiotic hand scrubs. Since that time, she has expanded her product line to other items.
Bolos said since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she has personally seen products sold under the guise of hand sanitizer that are subpar. When their formulas were checked, some did not meet the federal government, the CDC, or the World Health Organization’s standard for this product. She also saw price gouging to the tune of over $100 a gallon for some. Knowing how dangerous this could be to the public, she quickly went through the approval processes to manufacture hand sanitizer at Secret of The Island.
In 17 days, her team secured a larger facility, the permits, and licensing to produce 5 million gallons of government approved hand sanitizer. Secret of The Island has already begun bottling it for sale to hospitals, doctors, and other essential facilities.
Now that Bolos’ new production line is running, she is literally giving a truckload away to the heroes on the frontlines of this battle against a killer virus, our first responders. If you are a first responder and in need of hand sanitizer, she will provide it free. Over the weekend of May 2, 2020, simply bring proof of employment that shows you work in the first responder field to 5311 Bush River Road in Columbia to get yours.
Please, click the link at the very bottom of this article to hear and see Bolos talk about the gift. You can find out more about Secret of The Island on the internet at secretoftheislands.com
