Good News, Members! We’ve received our LCCEF masks and are ready to start distributing them. Your first opportunity to pick up a mask will be on main campus today, Thursday, April 1 (don’t worry, this is not an April Fools joke).
To pick up items at our main campus, please follow the COVID-19 campus safety guidelines and come to the main campus today, Thursday, April 1, between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.
We’ll be under a canopy that you can drive up to, east of the bus station, near the main campus corridor, and south of Building 4 (see photo below). We will be teaming up with the Wellness Team to make it easy for you to pick up your mask and your wellness items in one trip; if you see the wellness team you are in the right place!
The masks are available only to LCCEF members, and we will be happy to answer questions and help you sign up or recommit for membership if needed.
This is your first opportunity to get an LCCEF mask, but it won’t be your last. Stay tuned for other distribution channels soon if you cannot make it to this one.
Background
The College is required by state statute to provide masks for all employees who are on campus. Two of our EC members, Buck Potter and Fiora Starchild-Wolf, are on the College Reopening Advisory Team, and have worked extensively for the provision of high-quality, reusable masks that provide filtration intake protection for the wearer. Some of our members, such as Public Safety workers, have let us know that the masks being provided by the College are not adequate to their needs, and have asked for support from LCCEF.
Mask Details
We worked out a deal with a manufacturer of high-quality, reusable masks that provide intake filtration protection, fit well, and are breathable and comfortable to wear. These masks have nosebands and adjustment rings on the ear loops, to allow them to fit snugly, and provide good coverage from over the bridge of the nose to under the chin. They do not slip or fall down when talking or moving. This company made them in red with our custom logo design, so we can represent LCCEF as we wear them! In addition, the customer service with this company has been excellent, and they offered us a good deal for the quantity we ordered; QX Brands agreed to 300 masks, at $5 per mask. Here is the website for the mask company, so you can see the mask specifications: https://qxbrands.com/products/reusable-face-masks.
Why We Chose These Specific Masks
Fiora’s family has been using these masks since last August, when needing masks to send her daughter back to her college Dance program, in a studio where other dancers are taking class for 3 hours at a time. Fiora researched reusable masks with high intake filtration, in order to ensure her daughter would be safe. During the wildfires, Fiora wore these masks at the outdoor evacuation center, and found that, in spite of the heavy smoke, the masks filtered it out. When skiing with her daughter over winter break, they discovered that, while breath condensation was visible for all the skiers around them wearing lower quality masks, these masks had no condensation coming out.