Donating N95 Masks to Protect Healthcare Workers

My mom is a retired nurse and if she were a nurse today, I’d be worried about her being exposed to the coronavirus, especially with the shortage of protective masks.

I’m the owner of a start-up company that sells reusable shopping bags. On March 21, my supplier sent me an email to say that they had heard about the shortage of masks and that they opened a production line for manufacturing disposable masks and N95 masks. They are able to produce masks in large quantities. However, I’m just a start up I’m unable to order a large quantity.

I decided to look up a couple of medical supplies distributors hoping to connect them with my supplier so that they could order on a larger scale to help with the shortage of masks for health care workers.

Then I saw the articles about medical supply companies taking advantage of the shortage and overcharging the states and health care facilities for the masks! I do NOT want to help these supply companies to profit from this health crisis.

NEW PLAN: I’m donating $500 towards an order for N95 masks to be donated to health care workers. I’m hoping to get donations from others so that I can place a larger order and donate more masks to help protect those on the front line of this pandemic. The goal is to order 1000 masks with a cost of $1.22 per mask, plus shipping and customs costs. 

Any contributions from this fundraiser will cover costs of masks to be donated. One thing I wasn’t sure of was how to distribute the masks. Then I came across a site called https://www.mask-match.com/. They match those who need masks with those who have masks to donate. I’ve applied to be a supplier and will use this service to donate the masks.

I just started this campaign on March 22, but would like to place the order on March 25 due to urgent need of the masks. The earliest funding date is March 30, so will run this until then and any funds in excess of costs of the mask order will be donated to another mask funding campaign on this platform. I'll include that info as an update. 

(Photos included are from a Business Insider article about nurses coping with supply shortage and burn out)

*I had issues accessing my main Go Fund Me account and waiting on help from support to add my profile pic to this new account.  :-/ Please feel free to visit my business site at www.veniebags.com/about-venie to learn more about me.