Staff at Seven Hills Foundation today helped to distribute a little under 350,000 N95 masks to 125 other health and human services organizations throughout Massachusetts. The N95 Masks were shipped from China and arrived at Seven Hills Foundation this weekend and were sorted and packaged by members of our senior leadership team, preparing them for today’s coordinated distribution.
At the start of the COVID-19 crisis, it became obvious that masks were in short supply and needed to be located quickly. Reaching out to government officials and members of the State Legislature, Seven Hills was directed to a local sales representative for a US company with factories in Shanghai China by State Rep. Joseph McKenna. However, after communicating with this company about its need, Seven Hills Foundation learned that a minimum order of 50,000 masks was required for a purchase, Kathee Jordan, EVP/CEO of Seven Hills Foundation initiated an outreach program to other organizations who had similar needs for N95 masks. 126 organizations joined in this collaborative effort to secure PPE for their staff and clients.
“Although it was a lot of work these past few weeks to organize, package and distribute the 350,000 masks,” commented Kathee Jordan, “Seven Hills Foundation was happy to be able to do it because we know so many of our fellow organizations desperately needed these masks. It the midst of this public health crisis, it is imperative that we all work together and we are happy to help lead that effort.”