Baskonia announces large donation in COVID-19 fight

In the latest of a series of initiatives to help fight COVID-19, the group that owns KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz announced that it has procured 361,000 items of personal protection equipment to donate to healthcare workers in its region, the Basque Country of Spain, in the name of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague team and its sister football club, Alavés.

Among the items are 100,000 pairs of gloves, 76,000 masks and 2,400 protective glasses. The procurement is valued at €800,000, half of which has been paid for by Grupo Baskonia y Alavés. The total shipment, which weighs more than 20,000 kilos and covers 160 cubic meters, is being stored at Buesa Arena, the team’s homecourt. It will be distributed according to necessity according to the criteria of local health authorities.

“Everything we can do for the health professionals can help improve the conditions in which they are working,” Josean Querejeta, president of Grupo Baskonia y Alavés. “Our priority, beyond all doubt, is to dedicate all our efforts to that, which is what we have done, taking advantage of the group’s international relations to gain access to materials that otherwise would have been more difficult to obtain. This work cost weeks of effort, but its fruits are here.”

Baskonia began helping health professionals on March 16 by making available all of the medical materials in the installations of its two clubs to hospitals fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The group has also raised money by selling special-edition jerseys and bracelets, and donating memorabilia for auction, to honor healthcare workers.