FINDLAY, Ohio — A Findlay manufacturer is stepping up to help the people of Ukraine.
PaperTech in Findlay employs 160 people, and primarily makes paper food trays for the frozen food industry.
General Manager Caitlin Munoz said that over the last year, the company has had a stronger focus on community and global engagement. So, when they saw so many refugees from Ukraine in need, they asked themselves if there was anything their company could do to help.
"We had a lot of inventory on the floor and decided what could the refugees use, what could we actually donate, and selected from several different products. We've now decided to donate over three truckloads," Munoz said.
Now, PaperTech is prepared to donate close to 2 million food trays to Impact with Hope, which will then ship them to Europe for organizations that are feeding Ukrainian refugees.
"When we found that we could actually donate something that would be useful and people need right now, we jumped at the bit. It was kind of a conversation over dinner where it was just like, 'Hey, we can help. Why not?' We have the product, we have it in stock, so we'll send it," Munoz said.
Along with the nearly 90,000 pounds of donated product, the employees of PaperTech have also been collecting other items to donate.
"Everyone on the floors seems excited about it. I've had a lot of people interested in it, wanting to donate time, diapers, socks, all things like that," warehouse manager Ryan Klemen said.
The team plans to load up the trucks at some point next week.