Members of the Brattleboro Rotary Club visited several businesses and nonprofit organizations to deliver 4,600 face masks as part of the Rotary Million Mask Challenge Tour. The tour traveled through six states and stopped at nine major municipal centers to deliver a total of 800,000 masks to awaiting Rotarians. An additional 200,000 masks were distributed across Connecticut in the spring, making the total one million.
Local recipients of the donated personal protective equipment included Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Brattleboro Retreat, Garden Path Elder Living, Turning Point of Windham County, Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, Windham Central Supervisory Union, Youth Services, and Groundworks Collaborative.
“It felt like we met a genuine community need as we made the deliveries,” said Brattleboro Rotary Club member and project chair Regina Stefanelli, “Sadly, organizations have plenty of opportunities to use the mask donations.”
The Million Mask Challenge was launched by East Hampton Rotarian Ted Rossi and the Rossi Family Foundation. Rotaries throughout New England are distributing the masks, donated by the Rossi Foundation, to first responders, human services agencies, and groups that work with vulnerable populations, including the elderly, homeless, and people with health risks.
Photo (l-r) Rebecca Olmstead, Brattleboro High School nurse, and Darcy Whitworth, a health paraprofessional received masks donated from the Brattleboro Rotary Club as part of the Rotary Million Mask Challenge Tour.