Club sales and marketing manager George Santos had already placed the order with a Sydney manufacturer before any indications the Melbourne lockdown directive on face coverings would be extended to rural Victoria — just in case.
“Obviously the club is happy to do what it can to help with this latest bad turn in the coronavirus pandemic, and it is great to see so many locals making masks to help out as well,” George said.
“Neighbourhood House is also making its own masks and they will be available to anyone who wants them — they will be free without any expectation, but any donations would be welcome as they would help purchase more material and elastic.
“We are doing this with the Neighbourhood House as we have already established a great working relationship with them earlier in the pandemic when we were able to provide them with hundreds of meals to support more needy people in our community,” he said.
ENH manager Sarah Peake said the disposable masks would be invaluable to the house and its clients.
“We have a lot of people, a lot, who will need these masks and will have no other access — many of them will be homeless people we assist, but increasingly it will be people who are simply doing it very tough financially,” Sarah said.
“And disposable is good because many of the homeless don’t have the facilities to wash masks every day.
“The need for these masks is just another facet of a situation putting services such as ours under enormous pressure.
“We are finding demand for our Foodbank service is growing faster than we can resupply and it would be great if anyone had some food or cash to donate because that would be incredibly valuable for us.
“Cash actually works better because we can buy through Foodbank, which is much cheaper than you will get in a supermarket, so your donation will go a lot further.”
Sarah said she also wanted to publicly thank Moama Bowling Club for its ongoing support.
“We would not be able to deliver so many of the services and support we provide without them and George, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” she said.
