It all began with a local news story on WMUR. Real Madore was at home watching television when a feel-good piece aired about a Derry, New Hampshire business creating hand sanitizer due to the COVID-19 crisis. Madore, vice president of Operations at Elbit Systems of America's Merrimack site, jotted down the name of the business, Evolve Salon Systems. Two weeks later, that note would come in handy, benefitting roughly 1,000 essential Elbit America employees.
Evolve Salon Systems typically manufactures shampoo and other hair care products, but converted to hand sanitizer when demand was high for the hard-to-get product. Eventually, though, Evolve ran out of isopropyl alcohol, a critical ingredient for the hand sanitizer and production stopped. That's when Real Madore called the company.
When Madore tried to place an order for hand sanitizer for Elbit America, he was told production was on hold because the company was without the necessary alcohol. Luckily, Madore had a barrel of 99 percent isopropyl alcohol at the Merrimack site that could be used to create the hand sanitizer the company so badly needed. Arrangements were made to supply the alcohol to Evolve and multiple gallons were delivered to Craig Michaud at the company. Within six days, the hand sanitizer was made, packaged, and on its way to all Elbit America facilities. The product would be used by the dedicated workers that continue to perform their duties on manufacturing floors, in shipping, and more throughout the company.
Madore was impressed by the swift turnaround and the affordable price of the hand sanitizer. At a time when products such as Purell and Germ-X are prioritized for hospitals and government agencies responding to COVID-19, Michaud of Evolve could have charged a king's ransom for Elbit America's order. But he didn't.
When Michaud was reached about the atypical transaction with Elbit America, he said, "It's nice that we can take a crisis and get something good out of it -- put some smiles on people's faces."
The good from this transaction keeps expanding. In addition to benefiting Elbit America employees, bottles will also be donated to several areas in new Hampshire: To first responders in Merrimack, and adult living centers and hospice providers in Manchester and Concord.