March 23, 2020 – The Macon County Crisis Communication Team has announced a coordinated effort to collect face masks made by the community.
There will be a mask drive at the Decatur Civic Center on the next three Thursdays from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (March 26th, April 2nd, and April 9th). All masks collected will be distributed equally to both DMH and HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital. Masks will be accepted at the Decatur Civic Center drive-through (1 Gary K Anderson Plaza, Decatur, IL 62523).
Masks can be contributed by offices and businesses such as dentists, elective surgery centers, tattoo businesses, construction companies, nail salons and all others that have PPE on hand. The donations can include boxed, unused surgical type masks (including N95 masks); clean handmade, sewn masks; unused, wrapped or boxed gowns and exam gloves; hand sanitizer; bleach wipes and alcohol wipes to help with the national shortage during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Crisis Communication team suggests putting them in Ziploc bags in quantities of 25. Community members should only drop off donations at this designated location at the Decatur Civic Center. Do not bring them to the hospitals or clinics.
For video tutorials on how to make homemade masks, see below.
