Cheswick councilman giving away 1,000 gallons of hand sanitizer

While hand sanitizer continues to be missing from many store shelves, Cheswick Councilman Brian Testa is giving away 1,000 gallons of it to first responders and area residents.

“This is phenomenal. It’s so hard to find hand sanitizer,” said Bruno Moretti, emergency management coordinator for Allegheny Valley Regional Emergency Management Agency. Moretti started delivering the hand sanitizer to first responders this week in Harmar, Cheswick and Springdale.

“He just took a big burden off of everybody’s shoulders,” Moretti said.

Testa saw the need for the hand sanitizer because it continues to be an elusive item for the average person to buy.

But Testa is not your average person.

He owns RightPath Medical, a distributor of diagnostic supplies and chemicals in Pittsburgh. Testa talked to some of his vendors and was able to buy the hand sanitizer in bulk in 275-gallon “totes” just to give away, he said.

“This is an immediate need for people, and I’m doing my part and paying it forward,” he said.

In addition to police, firefighters, EMTs and local government officials, Testa wants to give the sanitizer to residents.

The only issue is finding small containers, which are scarce, to package the sanitizer for households, Testa said. But he will be working to package and redistribute more sanitizer over the next two weeks.