Harbor Freight Tools plans to donate their entire stocks of face masks and nitrile gloves to local hospitals around the country due to the spread of COVID-19.
Harbor Freight sells tools and machinery products and has stores locally in Gainesville, Buford and Toccoa.
Spokesman Craig Hoffman said Monday that their founder, Eric Smidt, came up with the idea when he realized how many of the items hospital workers needed they supplied.
While they don't have enough on the shelves and in the warehouse to give to every hospital, Hoffman said they had enough to give to some hospitals.
"Our estimation is 45,000 pairs of nitro gloves, hundreds of thousands of the N-95 masks, which are protective kind hospitals are in need of, and tens of thousands of face shields," Hoffman said.
Shoppers and healtcare workers can write to Harbor Freight via their website and tell them about a hospital in their area that could use the supplies.
Then, Hoffman said they'll send email vouchers to hospitals near their local stores, and a representative from the hospital can pick up their donation at the store.
"We know that there are hotspots, with an epidemic of this size but it's going to be everywhere," said Hoffman. "So we're doing the best we can to people all across the county."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2020/3/889162/harbor-freight-giving-masks-gloves-to-hospitals-in-need