They passed out pints last week to help Clarksdale combat coronavirus.
With the COVID-19 pandemic in full force, finding hand sanitizer has not been easy for many people.
Clarksdale native Michael Fondren, a 2001 Lee Academy graduate and 2006 Ole Miss graduate with a major in marketing and minor in pharmaceuticals, decided to take action.
Fondren currently resides in Memphis, is the area manager for north Mississippi and Tennessee of Cathead Distillery and provide 1,100 bottles of hand sanitizer to be donated to Coahoma County residents. The city paid the cost of the product -- $10,480 for two shipments -- and turned around and passed them out free to the community.
Fondren said he contacted Clarksdale Ward 2 commissioner Ken Murphey and received help from city officials, firefighters and volunteers who put labels on the bottles. They then passed out "pints' in a drive-through at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium Friday morning.
All bottles were given away in a little less than one hour.
Fondren said Cathead Distillery produces vodka, gin and bourbon, but changed gears to produce and sell the sanitizer.
“We have the ability to and our owners are very adamant about taking care of the state of Mississippi,” Fondren said. “So, basically, we just felt like we had the ability to and we needed to take advantage of it.”
Bolivar County has had more cases of COVID-19 than most counties in the state and Cathead Distillery representatives recognized that.
“With Coahoma being right next to it, we just saw that it would be a big deal,” Fondren said.
Murphey said he reached out to Pam Plunk, wife of Ward 1 commissioner Bo Plunk, the fire department and other commissioners and decided a drive-through was the best way to distribute the hand sanitizer.
“I think it’s worked out pretty good,” Murphey said. “It’s been pretty steady and the police department has done a wonderful job in assisting. I just want to give a shout out to Michael Fondren who really made it all happen.”
Murphey said social media traffic on the Clarksdale Press Register’s Facebook page indicated there would be a large turnout.
“When I saw how many shares it got, I knew what a big deal it was going to be,” Murphey said.
Fondren has been working for Cathead Distillery since August 2019.
“I was living in Charlotte and I was wanting to move home,” he said. “I’ve known the owners of Cathead awhile, just dealing with them on the beer side.”
The company’s commitment to Clarksdale goes back to when it started in 2010. The owners, Austin Evand and Richard Patrick, came up with the name Cathead Distillery when they were at a Sunflower Blues Festival in Clarksdale.
After the success of giving out hand sanitizer to the community last week, Cathead Distillery donated another 1,100 bottles to the community.
Murphey said city officials will be delivering the hand sanitizer to assisted living homes such as Federation Towers and to others unable to come out last week. The goal is to reach all four wards equally.
“We’re trying to take care of the ones that didn’t get out that way,” Murphey said.
Those looking for more information can contact the city of Clarksdale at 662-645-INFO.
