Tampa, Fla. – 4/27/2020 Lutheran Services Florida, a statewide nonprofit, dedicated to helping families in crisis has found a solution to the barriers of attaining masks for front line staff by creating Stitching for Service: A Project to Address the Mask Shortage.

Our organization has nearly 1,200 essential workers and getting masks has been a struggle. We put together a Mask Force and created a project pulling together 25 sewers within LSF who are committed to sewing masks. JOANN Stores partnered with us by donating 700 yards of fabric to get our group started.

“JOANN was instrumental in realizing our vision to be self-sufficient in providing masks to our people,” Jim Clark, Director of Community Relations said. “We had the idea and plan, but without JOANN supplying the fabric we wouldn’t be able to provide protection for our people so quickly during this time.”

LSF is also partnering with The Villages in Orlando and Family of Christ Lutheran Church in Tampa who provided us with over 2,000 masks. We want to ensure we are ready to supply another wave of masks to our people as we begin reopening our offices across the state when it is safe to do so. We are anticipating masks will still need to be worn long after Florida reopens for business.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises the use of cloth face coverings, along with social distancing, to slow the spread of the coronavirus as people who have the virus but don’t know it can transmit it to others.

LSF is a statewide nonprofit dedicated to helping the most vulnerable Floridians. We do this by reducing the suicide and drug addiction rate, giving families in crisis the support they need to persevere, and making sure those in poverty get the education they need to close the achievement gap.

To partner with us contact Jim Clark, Director of Community Relations at jim.clark@lsfnet.org or 813-415-7231. Visit www.lsfnet.org/covid19/ for the latest information on LSF’s response to the pandemic.

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Media Contact:

Terri Durdaller, LSF Vice President of Communications

Terri.durdaller@lsfnet.org

813-802-8790