Philanthropies in Marin donate 50K virus masks
Gear allotted to nonprofits for low-income residents
Several Marin nonprofits serving low-income residents will share 50,000 anti-coronavirus masks through a donation from the Marin Community Foundation and a local importer.
Half of the KN95 masks will go to Canal Alliance, a nonprofit serving San Rafael’s predominately Latino Canal neighborhood. North Marin Community Services and West Marin Community Services, whose clients include a high percentage of Latinos, will also receive a masks.
Other organizations to receive masks include Performing Stars of Marin, which is based in Marin City, and Marin Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster,
which is getting more than 15,000 masks.
KN95 masks are highquality masks considered a step below the quality of N95 masks typically authorized for use in medical settings. In April, the Marin Community Foundation purchased 100,000 KN95 masks from China and donated them to the Marin County Office of Emergency Services for distribution to local hospitals, nursing homes and first responders.
Marin Community Foundation CEO Thomas Peters said most of those masks went to the Marin Health Medical Center and Marin Community Clinics.
“This time,” Peters said, “I thought it would be a good idea to direct the masks specifically to individuals and families for whom every
dollar is a stretch in these times.”
Dr. Matthew Willis, the Marin County public health
officer, said that in terms of masks and other types of protective gear, much has
changed since the dark days of April.
“We’re so much better off now than we were,” Willis said. “Marin Community Foundation was a real support for us earlier on when we were having trouble getting enough masks just for our health care providers. What they’re doing now is helping with communitywide distribution of masks for general everyday use to prevent community transmission, which is vital.”
Willis said manufacturing of protective gear has ramped up since spring, and hospitals are able to get equipment independently through their own distributors.
Willis said the county has a cache of 107,000 N95 masks stored at its Emergency Operations Center for use in case a local hospital or health care provider runs short.
Willis said he believes the increased use of masks is one of the prime reasons why the positivity rate for the virus has come down in the Canal area. He said the rate nowis 12.6%, compared with the peak of 39% in July.
Willis said there are kiosks in the Canal area resembling newspaper boxes where neighborhood residents
can pick up free masks and information on their use.
Omar Carrera, executive director of Canal Alliance, said, “The public health department has been working on the education campaign since day one, and we have been supporting those efforts.”
Carrera said Canal Alliance will distribute the
25,000 masks to neighborhood residents with the help of other organizations in the area.
North Marin Community Services will receive 8,000 masks.
“We’re planning on distributing 1,000 to our staff and volunteers who are essential workers,” said Cheryl Paddack, the nonprofit’s CEO. “They’re the ones distributing
all the rental assistance and remote learning and food pantry items.”
Paddack said her organization is also working with the county’s behavioral health division on a new socialmedia campaign “to get the message out that masks help flatten the curve.”
The 50,000 masks were purchased in China by Katie Smith of San Rafael, the
same importer who secured the masks purchased by the Marin Community Foundation in April. This time, Smith’s San Anselmo company, Rock Flower Paper, paid for half of the masks.
Smith said there is no longer the kind of worldwide mask scarcity that existed in April. At that time, the Marin Community Foundation paid $2.50 apiece for its 100,000 masks, and Smith said that was still a bargain price. This time Smith was able to purchase the 50,000 masks for $92,000.
Even so, Smith said new mask manufacturers are only now beginning to open operations in the United States.
Smith, who shifted her business from importing clothing items to masks when the pandemic hit, said, “We are still very much in that business.” She estimates her company has delivered over 10 million masks so far.
Despite the increased availability of masks, local volunteer efforts are continuing.
“We will keep sewing as long as we can and as long as donations come in,” said Lee Budish of Mill Valley, the founder of Mill Valley Masketeers. The Masketeers make masks using high thread count cotton fabric that they buy themselves.
Budish said most of her organization’s masks go to Marin Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
“They are at the front lines in Marin,” Budish said. “They coordinate with the San FranciscoMarin Food Bank and clinics to get the masks out to those in need. Some people cannot afford the money for a durable, long lasting mask. One dirty disposable mask won’t cut it.”