Business Around the Region
Chattanoogans get creative to help their neighbors during the coronavirus crisis
March 19th, 2020 | by Mary Fortune
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Olivia Newton, 11, pours thickening agent into a vat of water as her mother Danette uses a mixture to create a gel while creating a small batch of 65% alcohol hand sanitizer in Lass and Lions' manufacturing facility on Thursday, March 19, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Lass and Lions vodka distillers normally uses the location to infuse their product with flavors, but has recently began to work on creating 65% alcohol hand sanitizer to help Hamilton County residents in response to the national outbreak of coronavirus creating a shortage in the market.
A local vodka distillery is mixing up hand sanitizer to give away to those in need. "Being a distiller, we've got lots of pure grain spirits — it's basically ethanol," said Danette Newton, the founder and CEO of Lass and Lions Vodka. "To make vodka we cut it to 40% with pure spring water. To make hand sanitizer, we'll cut it to 65% and thicken it up."
The company will hit up local businesses to get more bottles, build their supply of thickeners, and expand the reach of this volunteer effort, Newton said. They'll set up distribution points and advertise them on Facebook to give away the sanitizer to people who need it, she said.
"It's not about giving away hand sanitizer just to give away hand sanitizer," she said. "It's about finding people who don't have the funds to buy it or who need it and can't get it."
Hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, medical masks and other supplies have been wiped out by panic shopping and hoarding.
Contact Mary Fortune at mfortune@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow her on Twitter at @maryfortune.
Chattanooga vodka company switches gears, teams up with others to supply hand sanitizer (Image: WTVC)
Along with Lass & Lions Vodka, other local companies pitched in to help make and create the bottles to hand out.
Those companies are Dixie Labels, Signal Energy Constructors, ServiceMax, Fire Farms Hemp, and KuLM Outdoors.
Chattanooga vodka company switches gears, teams up with others to supply hand sanitizer (Image: WTVC)
You can learn more about distribution on
Lass & Lions' Facebook page here.
Lass & Lions | Chattanooga TN
