Jewelry Houses Rally Toward a Common Cause: COVID-19 Relief Efforts
By Phebe WahlBy Phebe Wahl|May 20, 2020|Style & Beauty, National,
High jewelry house Graff has donated $1 million to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
“The challenge presented by the pandemic has had a profound effect on all of us at Graff,” explains Francois Graff, CEO of the jewelry house and trustee of the Graff Foundation. “As an international business, it has been terrible to witness the speed with which the virus has spread, and the pain and uncertainty it is causing throughout the world.”
The Graff Foundation quickly turned that pain into action with a $1 million donation to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to support research, resources, patient care, front-line worker care and supplies, as well as efforts to develop vaccines, tests and treatments. “The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund is a vital tool in the global response to the virus,” says Graff. “We are proud to contribute to its lifesaving work and support the medical community and key workers who are heroically devoting their lives to caring for others during this global crisis.”
Other brands have also focused their efforts close to home, including Kering—parent company to Gucci and jeweler Pomellato—which committed 2 million euros (around $2.2 million) to hospitals and healthcare programs in Italy, while Richemont—Buccellati, Piaget and Van Cleef & Arpels—donated $1.4 million.
A portion of the proceeds from Kendra Scott’s Everlyne bracelet will go toward Feeding America.
In the U.S., Texas-based designer Kendra Scott is donating 50% of profits from her Everlyne bracelets to Feeding America and encouraging her fans to host virtual Kendra Gives Back programs, through which 20% of proceeds go to the charity of the organizer’s choice. With a focus on its hometown of New York, The Yurman Family Foundation committed $1 million to COVID-19-related causes across America. “Our hope,” says David Yurman, “is this will go in some way toward helping so many of our friends, neighbors, employees and customers who are going through this challenging time.”