Thank You Letter from Houston International Jaycess

Dear US Jaycees Foundation Committee:

The Houston International Jaycees would like to thank you for your generous support of the Pennies for PPEs Project. When we began this project, we recognized that while Houston International Jaycees knew there was a desperate need for medical staff to have access to PPE, there was an unmet need for the homeless to have simple masks to prevent spread of the disease when they could not socially distance and lacked access to medical care.

With the assistance of the grant, we have provided 500 non-woven face masks to homeless in the Houston area. The masks to the homeless were given just ahead of a mandatory mask deadline for Harris County for people who lack shipping address, funds to get masks, or a way to get them. As a res ult, they have a better opportunity to get back on their feet, which Star of Hope Mission thanked us for.

For first responders, we contacted multiple local fire departments with EMS directly on the front lines of responding to the outbreak and were able to provide needed aid to two departments that requested medical-grade masks. The KN95 masks to first responders provide respiratory protection to EMS and fire/rescue staff who serve over 25,000 people with just the Southeast Volunteer Fire Department alone who may confront a disease more contagious and deadly than the flu. With are also currently coordinating distribution of 500 KN95 face masks in the New Jersey area and 500 KN95 face masks in the New York area through Jaycees in those areas.

As you know, the outbreak has been devastating to those communities and even fellow members, and we want to provide as much as we can to the people risking their lives to fight this disease. In particular, we want to thank you for your generous contribution as it allowed us to purchase the KN95 masks for the NY and NJ areas without having to wait for our fundraiser to reach our goal of buying and shipping KN95 masks. This amount would likely have been more as the price of protective masks continues to climb due to demand. The chapter contacts will receive them this week, which would not have been possible without your help.

As we thank you for support for Pennies for PPE, we also look forward to further collaboration on COVID-19 relief projects. Just last weekend, we provided delivery of about 50 meals to homebound senior citizens for a relief project called Project Comfort, reaching Houston’s Chinatown, Energy Corridor, Katy, and Park Place areas. We are also working on a project to provide reusable cloth masks to seniors as we want to expend our help to the larger community disconnected and impoverished by COVID-19.

In Jaycee Spirit,
Richard Arriaga | Project Chair

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