Following its efforts to support Los Angeles Unified’s “LA Students Most in Need” initiative and the launch of the Mattel Playroom, Mattel Inc. has ramped up efforts to provide aid to those who are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We continue to use our resources to support our healthcare heroes on the front lines,” says Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz. “We are producing 100,000 face shields, which we will distribute to medical professionals across the U.S.”
In recent weeks, the company’s design and development teams in El Segundo, California and East Aurora, New York have been sewing cloth face masks that have been distributed free of charge to healthcare workers in New York City and Los Angeles. The team is working on sewing 50,000 more. The shields and the masks each provide different forms of protection against the spread of the coronavirus.
Despite calls to “reopen” business in the U.S., COVID-19 continues to spread and the need for supplies continues to grow. In order to help meet the needs for personal protective equipment (PPE), Kreiz says that Mattel has procured more than 10,000 surgical and N95 masks.
“These medical supplies are being donated to the UCLA Health COVID-19 collection center, as well as to healthcare providers in NYC and to Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo,” he adds.
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