Baby formula maker pledges free cans for LA families impacted by wildfires
Bobbie CEO Laura Modi: "Parents who have lost everything do not have to stress about how they will feed their baby."
As Laura Modi and her team at Bobbie watched the raging wildfires ravage entire neighborhoods across Los Angeles, they knew what was coming in the frightening aftermath for families who would have lost everything.
“The need was going to be ‘immediate.’ That was the operative word,” Modi said in an interview with Bagable.com. “We’re parents, too. So we approached this situation through that lens.”
Modi is cofounder and CEO of Bobbie, a privately-held organic milk-based baby formula brand that has its roots in San Francisco but moved its headquarters from the Bay Area to Heath, Ohio, where it built and opened a 90,000-square-foot infant formula manufacturing facility in July 2024.
“California is, and always will be, near and dear to our hearts,” Modi said.
Also, having this additional production capacity will likely prove to be timely now because “we never thought we would be struck with a crisis like this,” said Modi.
As the wildfires started to spread with intensity last week, Modi said her team quickly thought ahead about how to help.
Bobbie launched the following relief efforts:
Any parent severely impacted by the fires can apply to have Bobbie cover the rest of their child’s formula feeding need until their baby turns one.
Visit application link.
Bobbie is donating 1,000 cans of formula to nonprofit and grassroots organizations to immediately distribute on the ground.
The brand is engaged in individual outreach to its subscribers in impacted zip codes in the LA area to assess their need. Families can also contact Bobbie at hello@hibobbie.com.
The company set up a website — Give a Can — for anyone to donate a can of Bobbie formula to LA area parents in need.
Since going live with the efforts, Bobbie has already received, and is processing, hundreds of applications, Modi said. It has also received more than 1,600 cans of formula donations just in the first five hours of its announcement.
The are being donated to organization such as Baby2Baby and Good+Foundation.
“We’re here to help not only our customers but anyone who needs formula. Parents who have lost everything do not have to stress about how they will feed their baby,” Modi said. “We want them to know that we’ve got you.”