A new Beltsville distillery is aiming to raise $10,000 to provide free hand sanitizer to anyone in the College Park area who needs it.
Shmidt Spirits, at 10360 Southard Dr., had been making gin and whiskey since December 2019 when they first opened until the coronavirus pandemic hit.
After switching to making hand sanitizer for sale to help with shortages, owner Arthur Shmidt, who graduated from the University of Maryland, wanted to make a batch of hand sanitizer to provide to the community for free. The distillery set up a GoFundMe with a $10,000 goal.
The money would “cover the production of 2,000 4-ounce spray bottles of hand sanitizer, which we are producing in accordance with World Health Organization guidance,” they wrote. “These bottles would be free to any families who need them.”
As of Sunday night, the distillery had raised $1,330 from 44 donors, and it had been promoted by GoFundMe as one of 14 distilleries across the country raising money to provide free hand sanitizer.
Meanwhile, Hyattsville’s Sangfroid Distilling started production last Thursday on hand sanitizer for healthcare professionals and first responders, after a donation of ingredients and manpower from Franklins owner Mike Franklin.
