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WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A West Miami-Dade distillery has shifted its efforts from producing rum to making hand sanitizer to help the South Florida community during the coronavirus pandemic.
Matt Malone, the Miami Club distillery’s owner, made a donation on Friday to a Rotary Club-sponsored Food Pantry that will help homeless high school students and their families.
“I wasn’t surprised when he told me he was doing this,” Rotary Club of Perrine member Michael Kesti said.
Usually, the facility would be making Miami Club’s award-winning rums, such as the Cuban Coffee, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the same facility is making hand sanitizer.
“Not only are there no supplies, but they have no funds to pay for it,” Rotary Club of Perrine member Maria Kesti said.
“The shelves were going empty, and we could see there was going to be an immediate need,” Malone said.
For the past few weeks, Malone and his employees have been producing “Miami Strong” hand sanitizer.
“It just seemed like a logical thing to do,” Malone said. “We manufacture alcohol, and that’s the base of hand sanitizer.”
The name “Miami Strong” comes from the community’s unrelenting efforts to combat the virus, and it also means the product has a stronger alcohol content than typical hand sanitizers.
Malone said the company has donated hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizers to hospitals and first responders. He intends to give about 10% of total production to those on the front lines until the crisis is over.
“It’s a serious situation,” he said. “We see what’s happening around us. We’re not first responders, but we want to be able to do something to help.”
The distillery is among several companies in South Florida doing what they can to help people during the pandemic.
“We’re just glad, and we’re blessed we can do this,” Malone said.
In a few weeks, Malone said people will be able to purchase the hand sanitizer as well as a cleaning spray they will be producing online.
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