Mask the People rallies community partners and City Commissioner Tony Ortiz for distribution of 3,000 masks to 32822 zip code.

Mask the People rallies community partners and City Commissioner Tony Ortiz for distribution of 3,000 masks to 32822 zip code 

WHO:

Mask the People Engelwood Community Center Project Street Light Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Million Mask Challenge Jesus of Nazareth Episcopal Church Crafting is the Best Medicine C3 Church Hispanic Federation Platinum Signs City of Orlando Commissioner Tony Ortiz

WHAT:

Rebecca Fernandez of Mask the People teams up with numerous community leaders with ties to 32822 and the Semoran Corridor to distribute over 3,000 masks to residents and families in need.


WHY:

Mask the People is a community-led project with the goal of providing residents and workers of 32822 reusable cloth masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Their goal is to distribute more than 3,000 masks to families and invisible essential employees. While the Semoran Corridor has been the region’s biggest hot spot week after week, members of this community are still not wearing essential protective gear.

Those who work the hardest have been hit the hardest by COVID-19. Residents in this community are predominantly working-class with an average income of $30,000. More than 66% are Latinx and 78% are nonwhite, most are Spanish-speaking or Spanish-dominant speakers. There are areas where population density exceeds 8,000 per square mile and many of the families in this area are near and below the poverty line putting this community at greater risk for transmission and mortality.


Mask the People is a collective of community members and organizations in partnership with; the Hispanic Federation, Crafting is the Best Medicine, the Million Mask Challenge, Project Street Light, C3 Church, a number of faith-based communities, and with the support of City of Orlando District 2 Commissioner Tony Ortiz, Orlando City Soccer, and Theatre UCF.


Altogether, they are committed to combating the transmission and mortality of COVID-19 in a high-risk community with little resources. Mask the People has organized the skills and resources readily available locally and across the region into a collaborative effort of more than 60 sewers, and growing, to combat the virus from the ground up.

WHEN: Saturday, May 16, 2020, from 11 AM to 1 PM

WHERE: 6123 La Costa Dr., Orlando, FL 32807, Engelwood Neighborhood Center