ESSE has sent 20 cook-stoves to Japan to help relief efforts, with another 20 scheduled to go at a slightly later date.
Sales Director Mark Blewitt explains: “According to the Red Cross, more than 440,000 people in Japan have had to leave their homes due to the recent earthquake and resulting tsunami.
“Now that the initial emergency search and rescue has been carried out, we wanted to try and help improve the living conditions of those who have been displaced or left homeless by the natural disaster.
“We might not usually have sent products as opposed to monetary donations, but during a visit to England our Japanese distributor spotted these prototypes in the ESSE workshop and realised they’d be ideal for the earthquake victims.
“We immediately offered to build and send 20 to Japan, and our distributor generously agreed to pay for a further 20. Pennine Flue Systems have donated the flue pipe sections and to make best use of our shipment, we got in touch with the people at Heinz who offered to send food parcels along with our stoves.
“ESSE is also giving retailers the opportunity to ‘sponsor a stove’ so we can send even more of these innovative cook-stoves to areas of tsunami-ravaged Japan where they will be most needed.”
These ESSE cook-stove prototypes were originally developed for use during camping expeditions in the Arctic.
