An Oklahoma City-based provider of residential LED lighting and smart home products is donating half a million dollars to Ukrainian relief.
Privately held Jasco Products said it is splitting the $500,000 evenly between two agencies, Samaritan’s Purse and Convoy of Hope.
Samaritan’s has opened two sites in Lviv in western Ukraine — an emergency field hospital on the edge of the city, and an emergency clinic at the train station, where thousands of women and children have been arriving on a daily basis as they flee their homes and the Russian invasion. The agency is also helping to supply food, water, hygiene, and medical support to refugees in Poland and Moldova. Convoy is working in eight countries including Ukraine and Poland to supply food , water, shelter, baby supplies, hygiene kits, medical supplies, sleeping mats, and other aid.
“The heart of Jasco is with the people in Ukraine,” said CEO Jason Trice. “The stories of families being torn apart and innocent lives put in danger have compelled us to act as quickly as possible. We turned to our charity partners to see where we could make a difference.”
The number of refugees that have fled Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24 has now exceeded 4 million, according to today’s count by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The number is roughly 10% of Ukraine’s prewar population.
Combined with the 6.48 million people that have been internally displaced, the number of people uprooted in the Ukraine is about a quarter of the population. The 6.48 million is the latest figure published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), released on Mar. 18 for the period between Feb. 24 (the day the invasion started) and March 16. IDMC, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a nongovernmental humanitarian aid group out of Oslo.
Jasco’s contribution marks the latest in a number of efforts by the lighting industry to either speak out against Russia or assist in the humanitarian crisis.
Those have included a fundraiser spearheaded by news group EdisonReport; a call by Zumtobel CEO Alfred Felder for an end to the war; a matching fund campaign by ams Osram; and efforts by Signify to look into the lighting needs for refugees.
Jasco said it regularly donates 50% of net profits from its brands to causes such as food, water, shelter, and disaster relief. It partners with about 175 nonprofit organizations including the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and Water4. Two years ago the company donated $1 million for COVID-19 relief.
Jasco Products offers a wide array of indoor and outdoor residential LED lighting. Its own brands of lighting and other products include Jasco, Enbrighten, myTouchSmart, Cordinate, UltraPro, Power Gear, EcoSurvivor, Projectables, Lights by Night, Titan, and Uber. It also distributes GE- and Philips-branded LED lighting products.
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How is the war affecting your company, and what humanitarian and business measures are you taking? Please let us know.
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MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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