Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Hurricane, and Mosquito relief
Well, I had been wondering what Watkins was doing to help out survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and well, here it is! From our newsletter:
Watkins products to help aftermath of Katrina
Watkins Incorporated is sending more than 2,000 large bottles of its Insect Repellent Lotion, as well as numerous personal care items to help aid the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. The truck will be leaving Winona later this week, and the products will be distributed directly to the victims by volunteers of Catholic Charities. The total retail value of the products is more than $20,000 US. In addition, Watkins has made a financial donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Response Fund to help with efforts to support those left homeless by the storm.
Watkins has a long history of working with the Red Cross in Winona. For example, Watkins regularly hosts the Bloodmobile, providing release time for its employees along with a healthy “canteen” for those who donate. Watkins employees quickly filled all 40 appointments for the September 21 Bloodmobile stop at Watkins, with 24 additional employees “on call” in case appointments opened up.
Both Watkins and its employees, like individuals and institutions all over the US and beyond, have significantly increased their charitable giving in response to the suffering and loss of our fellow citizens in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. We also know that many of you have risen to this challenge as well. At the same time, Watkins continues with its ongoing commitments to the United Way, Red Cross as well as other non-profit, education, and arts organizations.
______________________________
Let me tell you something I learned about the Watkins insect repellent. It was developed in Canada, and is used by Canadian military and police forces. And ME! This stuff actually WORKS! We had gone camping in July to the coast of North Carolina, where the mosquitoes are as big as humming birds, and sound like cessnas! We stayed at KOA campgrounds mostly, and when we checked into the New Bern KOA, we were given a free bottle of Avon’s insect repellent, developed from their Skin So Soft oil crap. Well, the following night in Ocracoke, we were in our tent and I couldn’t for the life of me find the Watkins insect repellent, but I found the Avon stuff. We sprayed that on and kept getting bit. So we sprayed more on. Every 10 minutes until the dang tent fell down around our ears at 2:30am in a horrendous storm. When we extricated ourselves from the collapsed soggy mess and got into the truck, guess what I found!? Yep, that’s right. So, we put on the Watkins insect repellent, and did not get another single bite the rest of the night, and the truck was full of mosquitoes trying to get out of the rain!
Watkins insect repellent contains DEET, which has been scientifically proven to effectively repel all kinds of biting insects. And in these days of West Nile Virus infected mosquitoes and lyme infected ticks added to the mix, you really can’t take your chances. Sure, it would be nice if the natural products made from plants like citronella and such worked better than they do, but they don’t. Health Canada has done studies and is considering disallowing the use of citronella and lavender for use as insect repellents. And I’m not particularly in the mood to be getting encephalitis caused by West Nile! EEK!
According to Health Canada, DEET is not recommended for infants under 6 months, and for toddlers up to age 12, should be a concentration of 10% or less. DEET is not recommended for pets. However, the CDC and American Pediatrics Association has no such restriction on use of DEET on children. Strange that. DEET is effective in concentrations of 30% or less, and considered potentially hazardous to your health in concentrations above 30% by Health Canada. Watkins has DEET concentration of 29.55% . What I also liked about it was it doesn’t have a yucky smell, and its not sticky or slimy. It comes in either lotion (most effective because it can be applied directly) and in spray.
For information from Health Canada regarding the use of insect repellents go to http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/consum/insectrepellents-e.html
And also a link to CDC http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/insect_repellent.htm
For our dogs, we use a product called Pet Gel Guard. I believe this was originally formulated for horses, but is now available for dogs and cats as well. The bottle says “sold only by veterinarians” but I got ours from PetMeds.com I think. George and Bruno don’t seem to be too bothered by biting insects, but I did have a dog years ago who was terribly allergic to black-flies and flea bites, I wish I’d known about this stuff back then! The poor dear came camping with me once and swelled up from all the black-fly bites, we had to leave a couple of days early and get him to the vet! From then on he was on daily antihistamines. I don’t know if dogs are susceptible to West Nile, but I don’t want to take chances with them either.
I know the season is pretty much over for most of North America, but for those of us south of the Mason/Dixon line, we’re still swatting at gnats, and chiggers, and mosquitoes. It starts in February or March and goes well into Autumn. I’m tellin’ ya, I really do miss snow! ¶ 11:08 AM
Watkins products to help aftermath of Katrina
Watkins Incorporated is sending more than 2,000 large bottles of its Insect Repellent Lotion, as well as numerous personal care items to help aid the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. The truck will be leaving Winona later this week, and the products will be distributed directly to the victims by volunteers of Catholic Charities. The total retail value of the products is more than $20,000 US. In addition, Watkins has made a financial donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Response Fund to help with efforts to support those left homeless by the storm.
Watkins has a long history of working with the Red Cross in Winona. For example, Watkins regularly hosts the Bloodmobile, providing release time for its employees along with a healthy “canteen” for those who donate. Watkins employees quickly filled all 40 appointments for the September 21 Bloodmobile stop at Watkins, with 24 additional employees “on call” in case appointments opened up.
Both Watkins and its employees, like individuals and institutions all over the US and beyond, have significantly increased their charitable giving in response to the suffering and loss of our fellow citizens in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. We also know that many of you have risen to this challenge as well. At the same time, Watkins continues with its ongoing commitments to the United Way, Red Cross as well as other non-profit, education, and arts organizations.
______________________________
Let me tell you something I learned about the Watkins insect repellent. It was developed in Canada, and is used by Canadian military and police forces. And ME! This stuff actually WORKS! We had gone camping in July to the coast of North Carolina, where the mosquitoes are as big as humming birds, and sound like cessnas! We stayed at KOA campgrounds mostly, and when we checked into the New Bern KOA, we were given a free bottle of Avon’s insect repellent, developed from their Skin So Soft oil crap. Well, the following night in Ocracoke, we were in our tent and I couldn’t for the life of me find the Watkins insect repellent, but I found the Avon stuff. We sprayed that on and kept getting bit. So we sprayed more on. Every 10 minutes until the dang tent fell down around our ears at 2:30am in a horrendous storm. When we extricated ourselves from the collapsed soggy mess and got into the truck, guess what I found!? Yep, that’s right. So, we put on the Watkins insect repellent, and did not get another single bite the rest of the night, and the truck was full of mosquitoes trying to get out of the rain!
Watkins insect repellent contains DEET, which has been scientifically proven to effectively repel all kinds of biting insects. And in these days of West Nile Virus infected mosquitoes and lyme infected ticks added to the mix, you really can’t take your chances. Sure, it would be nice if the natural products made from plants like citronella and such worked better than they do, but they don’t. Health Canada has done studies and is considering disallowing the use of citronella and lavender for use as insect repellents. And I’m not particularly in the mood to be getting encephalitis caused by West Nile! EEK!
According to Health Canada, DEET is not recommended for infants under 6 months, and for toddlers up to age 12, should be a concentration of 10% or less. DEET is not recommended for pets. However, the CDC and American Pediatrics Association has no such restriction on use of DEET on children. Strange that. DEET is effective in concentrations of 30% or less, and considered potentially hazardous to your health in concentrations above 30% by Health Canada. Watkins has DEET concentration of 29.55% . What I also liked about it was it doesn’t have a yucky smell, and its not sticky or slimy. It comes in either lotion (most effective because it can be applied directly) and in spray.
For information from Health Canada regarding the use of insect repellents go to http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/consum/insectrepellents-e.html
And also a link to CDC http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/insect_repellent.htm
For our dogs, we use a product called Pet Gel Guard. I believe this was originally formulated for horses, but is now available for dogs and cats as well. The bottle says “sold only by veterinarians” but I got ours from PetMeds.com I think. George and Bruno don’t seem to be too bothered by biting insects, but I did have a dog years ago who was terribly allergic to black-flies and flea bites, I wish I’d known about this stuff back then! The poor dear came camping with me once and swelled up from all the black-fly bites, we had to leave a couple of days early and get him to the vet! From then on he was on daily antihistamines. I don’t know if dogs are susceptible to West Nile, but I don’t want to take chances with them either.
I know the season is pretty much over for most of North America, but for those of us south of the Mason/Dixon line, we’re still swatting at gnats, and chiggers, and mosquitoes. It starts in February or March and goes well into Autumn. I’m tellin’ ya, I really do miss snow! ¶ 11:08 AM
