Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut
APRIL 21, 2020
GRACE FARMS ALLIANCE AGAINST COVID-19 DISTRIBUTES MORE THAN
1 MILLION PIECES OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT IN 3 WEEKS
$750,000 of in-kind Donations from Ningxia Yanbao Foundation
and Shandong Province Provincial Government, China, Sister State to Connecticut
More than 7,000 Meals and Pantry Staples Prepared and Delivered to Those in Need
The Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19—established by Grace Farms Foundation and comprised of eight partners, including the Shandong Province Provincial Government (sister state to Connecticut), Town of New Canaan Emergency Management, Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., Ningxia Yanbao Foundation, Building and Land Technology, Greenwich Economic Forum, Helena Foundation and XJ Group to fight the COVID-19 pandemic—has distributed more than 1 million pieces of personal protective equipment in 3 weeks. Recipients include Connecticut hospitals, COVID-19 clinics and testing sites, first responders and skilled nursing facilities in local towns.
Grace Farms Foundation’s expertise in transnational supply chains and customs is exercised within its Justice Initiative to combat forced labor, yet the Foundation has been able to swiftly adapt and use these global relationships to procure and expedite PPE to fill mass statewide shortages. The new Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19 has secured N95 NIOSH and FDA-Certified respirators, face shields, surgical masks, isolation coveralls, and gowns. Critical supplies have been delivered by 30 volunteers from the New Canaan Fire Department No. 1, Grace Farms Foundation staff and the Connecticut Army National Guard to recipients across the state, sometimes within hours after the PPE arrived in State.
The effort is funded by the Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut, an initial fund of $2.5 million which has now received more than $750,000 of in-kind donations from Ningxia Yanbao Foundation and Shandong Province Provincial Government and has raised an additional $100,000 in funding. As of this release, the Alliance has purchased more than 200,000 additional N95 NIOSH respirators with deliveries scheduled through the first week of May, totaling more than 500,000 N95 respirators delivered to date.Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19 has distributed more than 150,000 N95 respirator masks—30,000 more than announced on April 2—and is poised to deliver an additional 150,000 to the front lines, including Connecticut hospitals, COVID-19 clinics and testing sites, first responders and skilled nursing facilities in local towns this week. An additional 50,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including surgical and disposable masks, coveralls, and goggles have also been delivered and are currently in use statewide.
Sharon Prince, CEO and Founder of Grace Farms Foundation said, “We have seen the best in humanity locally and globally expediently come together with a ‘can-do’ spirit to provide 1 million items of PPE to our frontline heroes. Our cross-sector collaboration and the expertise of the linchpin of our global operation, Rod Khattabi, has worked in short order to strategically help fill the life-threatening supply-demand gap of PPE across the state of Connecticut. It is imperative that we continue to leverage our reliable supply chain with our colleagues in China as we aim to meet the escalating demand for PPE, particularly for N95 respirators.”
Max Reiss, Director of Communications of the Office of Governor Lamont said, “Our state’s success, and our residents’ safety during this unprecedented public health emergency will be dictated by our ability to work together through partnership and collaboration. Grace Farms Foundation is one of those partners stepping up to make sure our healthcare workers have the supplies they need while they work on the frontline and we are thankful to work with them to help as many people as possible.”
APRIL 6, 2020
GRACE FARMS FOUNDATION IS LARGEST DONOR OF
N95 RESPIRATOR MASKS IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
More than 150,000 FDA Approved Respirator Masks Have Been Donated and are In Use by
Healthcare Workers and First Responders
Additional 150,000 Respirator Masks to Be Distributed this Week
“It means the world to me to have this N95 mask on for my safety and for the safety of my family that I have to go home to and come back—I love my job, I just want to be protected.”
—Louisa Lombardi, critical care ICU nurse at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bridgeport
Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19 has distributed more than 150,000 N95 respirator masks—30,000 more than announced on April 2—and is poised to deliver an additional 150,000 to the front lines, including Connecticut hospitals, COVID-19 clinics and testing sites, first responders and skilled nursing facilities in local towns this week. An additional 50,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including surgical and disposable masks, coveralls, and goggles have also been delivered and are currently in use statewide.
Despite the Alliance’s efficient supply chain infrastructure and large deliveries, significantly more PPE is required to fill the gap to protect front-line healthcare workers.
Over the weekend, the $2.5M Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut received an additional $80K in funding from individuals and organizations across the state, and an in-kind donation from Ningxia Foundation of more than nearly 40,000 PPEs, including isolation coveralls and certified respirators.
In the coming weeks, more than 295,000 N95 respirator masks, 180,000 face shields and 26,000 coveralls will arrive. Distribution has focused on the epicenter of the virus (Fairfield and New Haven counties) in the state of Connecticut and will expand outward as demand is addressed.
According to emergency responders in the state, the nearly 1 million pieces of PPE now procured by the Grace Farms Alliance will not be enough to meet the urgent demand. Since publicly announcing the Relief Fund for Connecticut on April 2, the Alliance has been fielding daily real-time requests from healthcare workers in dire situations. The PPE donated by Grace Farms Foundation is being distributed by New Canaan Fire Company #1.
APRIL 2, 2020
GRACE FARMS FOUNDATION LAUNCHES RELIEF FUND FOR CONNECTICUT HOSPITAL STAFF AND FIRST RESPONDERS IN CRITICAL NEED OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Foundation Forms Cross-Sector Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19;
Delivers 120,000 respirator masks
Hundreds of thousands of additional PPE are expected to arrive within days
Grace Farms Foundation today announced the Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut, established with private donations totaling $2.5 million to help address the critical shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health care workers in Fairfield and New Haven counties. Grace Farms Foundation has also organized the Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19, an effort comprised of more than half a dozen partner organizations, including Town of New Canaan Emergency Management, Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., Ningxia Yanbao Foundation, and Helena Foundation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. A full list of Alliance members can be found at the bottom of this page.
The scarcity of PPE for health care workers has become a dire need in hospitals and municipalities across the country. In response to these desperate and life-threatening conditions, Grace Farms Foundation is using its knowledge of complex global supply chains and unique ability to convene partners across sectors to help. Through the collective and all-in efforts of the Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut and Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19, the Foundation has been able to source, purchase, and deliver respirator masks and other medical necessities, effectively navigating complex bureaucratic roadblocks around the world.
As of today, 120,000 respirator masks, including more than 40,000 N95 masks and 80,000 KN95 masks have been delivered or are en route to local hospitals, first responders, and COVID-19 clinics in Connecticut. In addition, more than 32,000 surgical masks, and 4,000 isolation coveralls have already been received by 13 area hospitals, COVID-19 clinics, and 14 local townships’ first responders to date. Hundreds of thousands of additional respirator masks, gowns/coveralls and face shields are expected to arrive within days, and will be distributed again by New Canaan Fire Department volunteers to local first responders in Fairfield County and healthcare workers at Community Health Centers, Stamford Health, Norwalk Hospital, Danbury Hospital, and St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, and Yale New Haven Health which serves six hospitals.
“As the COVID-19 crisis escalates, it is clear that pressing humanitarian issues can be solved when the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors collaborate locally and globally,” said Sharon Prince, Grace Farms Foundation Founder and CEO. “Grace Farms was created as a platform where individuals and organizations can come together to advance good and create new outcomes. At this pivotal moment, we coalesced networks and leaders ranging from local businesswomen to kindred innovative foundations, global corporations and our local government to earnestly identify, source and land legitimate PPE supplies in real time.”
In addition to purchasing PPE, a $250,000 donation from the Relief Fund has been used to support Helena Foundation’s COVID Network. Helena Foundation is a unique, global institution that develops projects aimed to address critical societal problems. The COVID Network is a non-profit, open-source platform that lets organizations in need of critical medical supplies request help from healthcare and government leaders.
“In times of global crisis like this, the nature of the game is coordination and speed,” said Helena Foundation Founder/CEO Henry Elkus. “Those who have access to up-to-date data and can mobilize quickly and efficiently will save lives and combat the spread. We are proud to partner with Grace Farms Foundation to do this at a national scale.”
In addition to launching the Relief Fund and Alliance to address the PPE shortage, Grace Farms Foundation has also responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by preparing and delivering food to those in need in New Canaan and surrounding communities. Through partnerships with nine not-for-profit organizations in Fairfield County, Grace Farms Foundation is providing 1,000 meals and pantry staples weekly to those experiencing food insecurity.
“As the COVID-19 crisis escalates, it is clear that pressing humanitarian issues can be solved when the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors collaborate locally and globally.
“Since its founding, Grace Farms Foundation has worked to advance good in our community and the world, we welcome our neighbors to join us and support the Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut. Your support is so important to ensure that we can continue to provide life-saving supplies to health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic.”
Michael Chen, Grace Farms Foundation Vice Chair
To contact the Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut, please email us, or fill out this contact form.
Grace Farms Alliance Against COVID-19 | Our Partners
Town of New Canaan Emergency Management
Town of New Canaan Fire and Police Departments
XJ Group
Medical Relief Supplies Recipients
Community Health Center, Inc. (14 COVID-19 testing sites)
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, New London
St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bridgeport
Towns | PPE Supplies delivered to these Emergency Management Services for distribution within their towns to first responders, assisted living facilities and other front-line workers.
Lewisboro and Pound Ridge, NY
