The Western Carolina University community has secured a shipment of thousands of masks from China to help fight COVID-19 in the mountains.
Faculty and students with Chinese ties organized a shipment of six thousand masks from a single supplier in China.
Faculty members fronted the 35 hundred dollar cost upfront to expedite the shipment.
“We just thought, let’s just get the money and buy it and then do a fundraising,” says WCU Management Professor Yue Cai Hillon.
The expense was more than covered later by a GoFundMe campaign.
“We will get those masks and distribute them to the medical clinics,” says student Hongyun Shen.
Students are committed to the procurement from a single supplier in China with safety protocols cleared.
“To ensure the quality of the masks and the compliance with FDA requirements,” Shen says.
The masks arrived April 1 and will be distributed April 2.
“Some will go to our like local medical clinics and nursing homes,” Shen says.
The focus is on small clinics, nursing centers, and community organizations. Some of the masks will go to emergency workers in Jackson and Haywood County as well.
The distribution is with the help of the American Chinese Friendship Society of Western North Carolina, and the Western Carolina Medical Society.
Shen said she is proud to be able to contribute, even as she's worried about her family back home.
“Right now, I think that things are under control there and my family is kind of worried about me,” she says.
She remains focused helping an immediate need in our mountains.
"I’m so glad about the chance to serve our community,” Shen says.
Organizers are also talking with a Sylva-based sewing facility to supply masks.
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