EXETER, Pa. — Luzerne County Manager David Pedri has been asking "The Valley with a Heart" to pitch in and help since the coronavirus made its way into the Wyoming Valley.
Kuharchik Construction, based in Exeter, stepped up to the plate.
"They are donating over 1,000 3M masks for services in Luzerne County, in addition, 95 respirators that will be of use to the citizens of Luzerne County," explained Pedri.
Kuharchik Construction specializes in traffic electricity projects. CEO Robert Bresnahan says crews use 3M N-95 masks during construction projects, but they are also recommended for use by the CDC to protect against the coronavirus.
"The flood of 2011, we used them during the cleanup recovery process. So, we started ripping through our inventory and realized that we had a plethora of masks, and we thought it was the right thing to do, the necessary thing to do," said Bresnahan.
Pedri says without volunteer efforts like this, protection would be hard to find.
"We're having as hard a time as other places getting supplies. It's the same thing where we are still seeking out supplies like hand sanitizer like everybody else," added Pedri.
Pedri says this donation saves taxpayer dollars, and these masks will go to staff in emergency services, will be donated to hospitals, and used by county caseworkers.
"Our Children and Youth caseworkers are still going out to people's houses if there are any allegations of abuse. Our aging caseworkers are going out there to make sure our seniors are protected. These are people with master degrees in social work, they take their jobs very seriously, and they need to be protected," explained Pedri.
"We all need to do our part to stop this from spreading. As small of a donation as this may be and the number of cases relative that could be contracted, it's something. I wish I had more, and if we had more, I'd be donating more. This is about people helping people," added Bresnahan.