Masks donated by Chinese residents
THE Southside Chinese Residents Association has made a donation of 25,000 masks to help with the Covid-19 emergency in Wicklow.
Spokeswoman Summi Wong said that they are ‘showing love to our second hometown’.
Summi and the many Chinese people that have settled in Bray and surrounding areas met recently to figure out how they could contribute to the emergency efforts.
They wanted to show their solidarity with the people of Ireland and particularly of their hometown, Bray.
After some thought they decided to source masks from China. They raised the money and bought over 25,000 three-layer disposable masks and shipped them here. With the help of local gardai, 15,000 of these masks have now been distributed to local nursing homes in the Bray and Greystones area, at no cost.
A further 10,000 are being sent to local not-for-profits with the help of the County Wicklow Volunteer Centre. These organisations include Sunbeam House Services, Bray Home Care Service and Wicklow Community Carers.
All were delighted as sourcing masks is difficult and expensive, so to get masks free was a huge gift.
Summi said that the association is a small but very active group with wanted to ‘give back to the community’.
When the call went out to fundraise for the PPE equipment they were surprised and delighted with the generous response with even children emptying their piggy banks to donate.
A spokesman for Wicklow County Council said that they would like to thank the members of the Southside Chinese Residents Association, the gardai and all the front line workers caring for the most vulnerable in society for their amazing response to this crisis.