Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (MADR) is in contact with a wide network of mutual aid groups and individuals who are seeking masks to provide to their most vulnerable or already infected community members and to protect themselves as they do frontline work taking care of their communities during the COVID19 pandemic.
This fundraiser is specifically for raising money to purchase masks and mask making materials to distribute across the country to these groups and our networks of responders and organizers.
The immediate need for these masks is higher than MADR can currently cover with our general funds alone. The more we raise here, the more people we can get masks to quickly.
The groups these masks will be provided to are doing the vital work of delivering food and supplies to residents, distributing harm reduction kits to houseless people, and providing long-term care to community members. A small portion of these masks will be used by the members of these mutual aid groups, while the majority of them will be distributed to vulnerable people, including houseless, incarcerated, immunocompromised, elderly, and already infected people.
MADR will use these funds in two ways:
MADR has found a supplier of Type II surgical masks, which we have started making large bulk orders from. These masks cost $1.10 each.
MADR is also in contact with a number of individuals and groups who are hand making masks. We’d like to support the production of hand made masks as the surgical masks are not accepted inside prisons because they contain metal, and the ordering of the surgical masks from overseas suppliers is more expensive and we want to limit reliance on unpredictable supply chains.
Mask Distribution:
Masks are in incredibly high demand right now. The CDC recommended nurses use bandanas and scarves to cover their faces if they had no access to masks, and officials are encouraging people to make their own masks.
We recognize there’s a lot of responsibility in ordering and making decisions as to how to distribute these masks. We can’t make promises to groups or individuals that they will be supplied with masks at this point. The best we can do in this situation is to try our best to find those in most need of masks and get them masks as soon as possible.
We encourage the following people/groups to contact us if they are in need of masks:
Medical professionals and street medics providing direct care to people who may be infected with Coronavirus
Mutual aid groups who are packaging and distributing supplies to people in their community who are immunocompromised, elderly, houseless, or otherwise vulnerable to being infected or spreading infection
Mutual aid groups who need to provide masks for use by vulnerable or already infected people in their communities
You can contact us at mutualaiddisasterrelief@gmail.com to ask about receiving masks.
We will not be able to meet a fraction of the need for masks with this effort. Therefore, in the spirit of mutual, we ask that, before you inquire about receiving masks, you consider the severity of need in your community relative to those in the most risky and vulnerable situations during this crisis. As we get a better understanding of need and demand, and if this fundraiser collects enough to continue purchasing masks, we will continue to assess how to best carry out this effort.
Please share across your networks.
