United We Mask Donates 10,000 DIY Mask Making Kits To Boys & Girls Clubs Spanning The West Coast

NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- United We Mask , a non-profit organization founded to educate sound public health practices and provide homemade masks to the public, is proud to announce its October 24th launch of its Back-To-School Campaign with the donation of 10,000 mask kits to Boys & Girls Clubs along the West Coast. 

Highlighting 'Back-To-School' and noting a 90% increase in COVID-19 cases amongst youth, United We Mask is donating 10,000 DIY kits and children's books to underserved youth, to encourage the use of PPE in a child-friendly manner. These kits offer children a unique opportunity to make their own masks and the children's book, "Smiling from Ear To Ear" by Kaitlyn Chu, teaches younger children the importance of PPE. The DIY kits also offer a fashionable and sustainable alternative to disposable masks, with the help of partners Verloop, Fabscrap and Minted, who are all providing upcycled, no-waste, sustainable materials for the kits. The kits will be provided to Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, Cathedral City, Malibu, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Fontana, Whittier, Santa Clarita and Hawaii.

"With over 129 billion masks being used globally, we at United We Mask are proud to partner with Boys & Girls Clubs to provide sustainable and reusable masks. When children are offered a unique opportunity to make their own masks, they take their self-made product as a point of pride and are more likely to wear it, increasing PPE compliance and offering a sustainable solution," said Jennifer Lee, CEO and Founder of United We Mask.

Lauren Garrido, Communications & Marketing Coordinator for The Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, remarked," We are so grateful for the wonderful partnership with United We Mask; the kids are so excited to receive and create their own masks and even more excited to wear them!"

This once small fashion-forward sewing collective, started back in the spring, has grown to a national collective of creative designers and student volunteers from universities across the US, including UCLA, USC, University of Arizona, Harvard Business School, Georgia Tech, and SCAD, all sewing and designing masks and teaching others to do the same through virtual workshops, with an added mission of education for proper mask wearing and sound public health practices. 

In addition to this partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs, United We Mask has hosted educational virtual DIY workshops and digital collaborations with leaders in our community, including Google, Accenture, (Red), L'OREAL, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, Curology, etc.

For more information on virtual workshops, please visit: https://unitedwemask.org/workshops

About United We Mask

United We Mask is a non-profit organization with a mission to encourage sound public health practices and provide homemade masks to communities, leaving N95 masks for members at higher risk of COVID-19 exposure.  UWM hosts free workshops and invites Creatives to think about new PPE solutions based on individual needs: our goal is to ensure no matter race, socio-economic status, job, or age, we can help save lives.

Jennifer Lee, CEO & Founder, is a 2013 UCLA computational and systems biology grad, and was the President of UCLA's first and largest fashion club, FAST (Fashion and Student Trends), where she found her love of design, fashion and sewing. Now a Global Program Manager and Scientist at L'Oréal's Technology Incubator, she was inspired to use her strength in collaboration and her diverse background in fashion, science, and public health to demystify myths and stigmas around PPE, while making it available to all demographics and across cultures. https://unitedwemask.org/

About Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos

Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos (BGCSM) is a non-profit youth development organization whose mission is to inspire and enable all young people to become productive, responsible and caring citizens. The organization serves over 4,000 members ages 6 to 18 at its standalone branch and 12 extension sites at school campuses and affordable housing communities throughout the San Marcos and neighboring communities. As part of a nationwide movement of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, BGCSM offers youth programs, developed and run by trained youth development professionals, that emphasize three priority outcome areas: academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles.  To learn more or support the Club, please visit www.boysgirlsclubsm.org.

CONTACT:

Sue Bolen                                                                                                                           
United We Mask.org                                                                                                     
[email protected]  
914-238-3162      

Lauren Garrido
Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos
[email protected] 
 

SOURCE United We Mask