Whirlpool Corp. has announced that the brand’s Care Counts laundry program will expand into its first international market in 2022 – Colombia.
The program, which launched in the U.S. in 2015, was created to remove a key barrier to school attendance – access to clean clothes – by installing washers and dryers in select schools. Since its inception, the program has contributed to decreases in chronic absenteeism, as well as increases in attendance rates, grades and engagement levels among participating, at-risk elementary students, according to Whirlpool.
The international expansion comes on the heels of the brand’s collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Encanto,” a new film that tells the story of a Colombian family living in a magical house.
“Introducing the Care Counts laundry program by Whirlpool brand to an international market has been a hope of ours from the start,” said Laura Fletty, communications manager at Whirlpool. “We are ecstatic to begin the careful and thoughtful growth of this beloved program outside of the United States, with the goal of providing access to clean clothes to schoolchildren on a global scale.”
“We are excited to get this program up and running in Colombia,” added Whirlpool Corp.’s Andean Region Director Santiago Nuñez Castro. “Care Counts is something we’ve been wanting to bring to our region for quite some time, as we’re confident it will make a significant impact in the South American region. We’re very grateful the collaboration with Whirlpool brand U.S and Disney’s ‘Encanto’ has enabled us to make this dream a reality.”
In the U.S., the Care Counts program currently serves 134 schools and students across 36 states. Whirlpool’s U.S. team will work closely with its counterparts in the Latin American region to introduce the program to several schools in Colombia.
