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Five million non-medical masks are making their way to Niagara communities today, thanks to a generous donation from MedSup Canada to the Niagara Health Foundation, and supported by Niagara Region.
The project is the result of fruitful collaboration between the donor MedSup Canada, Niagara Health and all of Niagara’s municipalities. Ryan David, MedSup’s Senior Vice-President of Sales, North America, is a lifelong Niagara resident, and wanted the donation to benefit his community.
The nearly 80 pallets of masks were delivered to the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls on Dec. 10. The Scotiabank Convention Centre generously volunteered staff time to unload the shipment, store it, and help distribute the pallets – each of which contain 62,000 masks – to staff from each Niagara municipality, who will be picking up the truckloads of masks from the convention centre today.
Niagara Region’s Community Services staff identified distribution of over 1.7M masks to Niagara’s local service agencies that assist vulnerable populations throughout the region. Municipalities will coordinate the local distribution to these agencies and reach out to other services in need to further allocate additional masks over the coming days.
Quotes
“From a company perspective, MedSup Canada is committed to keeping Canadians safe, and is grateful to be in a position to provide the masks to various communities across Canada. From a personal perspective, I’ve lived in Niagara my entire life, and wanted to make sure this donation would benefit the area my family and friends call home. It became very exciting when the Niagara Health Foundation and Niagara Region answered the call, working together to ensure that all communities and charities across the region would benefit from this gift” ~ Ryan David, MedSup Canada Senior Vice-President Sales, North America
“Time and time again through this pandemic, Niagara has proven its resiliency and capacity for giving and collaboration, and today’s donation is an excellent example of each. All of Regional Council expresses its sincere thanks to MedSup and Niagara Health for their generosity. I am also exceptionally proud of the hard work put in by all our municipalities, the Scotiabank Convention Centre, and Regional staff working in concert to get these masks in the hands of those most in need across our communities. This was a true team effort.” ~ Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley
“We are extremely appreciative to MedSup Canada for this generous donation. This act of kindness will have a significant impact across Niagara and exemplifies how our community has rallied around each other to offer support during the pandemic. This pandemic has really shown us how challenging times can bring out the best in people.” ~ Lynn Guerriero, President, Niagara Health
“We are grateful for the generosity of Medsup and deeply moved by their commitment to prevention and safety for the Niagara region. The collaboration between the Region, the municipalities and Niagara Health is really inspiring to see and will show our communities that we are all working together to keep them safe and healthy.” ~ Andrea Scott, Interim President and CEO, Niagara Health Foundation
