Optimal Health Centre donates pallets of nutritional supplements to Hurricane Dorian victims in the Bahamas

Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Optimal Health Centre employees gather around the three pallets of nutritional supplements the company is donating to Hurricane Dorian victims in the Bahamas.

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

PIMA – A local Pima business is spreading its goodwill this season to help the victims of the hurricane destruction in the Bahamas. 

Doug Grant and his crew at his world-class nutritional supplement production facility at Optimal Health Centre are donating more than $100,000 of their supplement Digestion and their protein dietary supplement Complete Performance to the victims of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

“It did a tremendous amount of damage,” Grant said. “We’ve been thinking about them and seeing the hardships they’ve had to get things back together with water and food, and so the Optimal Health Centre, with Optimal Health Systems and Gains In Bulk, has teamed up to send over $100,000 worth of product to the Bahamas to help them (with) digesting their food and to help with the bacteria situation that’s been going on. We’re just glad to be a part of it and everyone here to be able to support this mission and help the people down there to get healthier.” 

Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas as a category-5 hurricane from Sept. 1 – 3 and caused at least 65 deaths and more than $3.4 billion in damages. While a number of donated canned food has poured into the islands to help those displaced, not all of it is as welcoming to the inhabitants’ digestive tracks, according to Optimal Health Centre Managing Director Boyd Bryce.

Three pallets-worth of more than 8,000 bottles of the product will be shipped to Florida, where it will then head to the Bahamas. Upon arrival, volunteers with a local church who are currently helping feed those in need will distribute the supplements, according to Bryce.

“The donated product Digestion helps the body assimilate what foods it receives,” Bryce said.      

Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Products being donated include Digestion and their protein dietary supplement Complete Performance.

One might know Optimal Health Systems (OHS) and Gains In Bulk for providing nutritional supplements for professional athletes, however, their products are also used by the average consumer to promote better health.

OHS was initially formed by Grant in 1997 and first moved to Pima in 2003. In 2017, the Pima Town Council voted to purchase a vacant lot where the business now operates and, with the help of a zero-interest $375,000 loan from the Graham County Electric Cooperative, built the 12,000-square-foot building to suit for Optimal Health Centre, which leases the building from the town of Pima. The building is the home to OHS, Gains In Bulk and Iron Man Magazine. The loan was made possible through a rural economic development loan and grant fund through the United States Department of Agriculture.