Downy introduces new bottle to highlight children’s charity

In celebration of its 50th year, Downy fabric softener has launched a new specially marked bottle, with five cents from every purchase helping to provide comforting quilts to hospitalized children. Each year in the United States, children account for more than six million hospital stays and must confront the challenges of overcoming illness while staying in unfamiliar hospital environments.

In January 2009, Downy partnered with Quilts for Kids, Inc. and award-winning actress and star of "Grey's Anatomy," Chandra Wilson, to launch the Downy Touch of Comfort Program -- the brand's first large-scale cause marketing program. Last year, Downy delivered thousands of quilts to hospitalized children nationwide, bringing them each a small, but meaningful, "touch of comfort." Now, Downy is elevating the program by pledging to deliver 10,000 more quilts to children.

"Over the past 50 years Downy has helped bring comfort into the homes of many families," said Mary Pochobradsky, Downy Marketing Director. "With the introduction of our Downy Touch of Comfort Program last year, we found a way to help bring the comforts of home to hospitalized children; now we're excited to extend the reach and impact even further by donating five cents from each specially marked bottle purchased by consumers to Quilts for Kids."

The program will be supported with a full-scale integrated marketing campaign that includes public relations, digital, advertising and in-store efforts that launch this month.

Quilts for Kids, Inc. is a non-profit organization that began in 2000 to transform discontinued fabrics into quilts that comfort hospitalized children. Now, with the help of the Downy Touch of Comfort program, the non-profit organization has been able to reach more children nationwide.

"Through the Downy Touch of Comfort program, we are able to reach many more children who we never would have been able to reach on our own," says Linda Arye, founder of Quilts for Kids, Inc. "We can buy more fabric and make more quilts to take care of the kids because of Downy, and that gives us hope for the future."

SOURCE: Procter & Gamble

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