SAN ANGELO, Texas — Thousands of people drove to San Angelo Stadium Wednesday, to pick up free disposable face masks distributed by the City of San Angelo.
Patrick Frerich, COSA assistant director of operations, said the City has been coordinating with local businesses for many weeks to find a way to provide free face masks for residents.
“This has been planned since March. We knew we were going to have some masks but we didn’t know when they were going to get here or any of those logistics, so we didn’t want to advertise that before they came out. We have 20,000 to hand out today, at this event, but there should be more masks coming in later. We got the first shipment in and we just wanted to get those out into people’s hands," he said.
Principal LED, Enter-Tel and the San Angelo Health Foundation provided the funds to purchase masks, while the City coordinated the distribution process. Enter-Tel Marketing Manager Kendra Guerrero said Principal LED reached out to Enter-Tel first, and it was a no-brainer to join in on the gesture.
"It started with Bryan Vincent from Principal LED. He reached out to us and saw a need in the community, and Enter-Tel definitely wanted to be a part of the solution. We're a security company and a life safety company, so, protecting the community has always been our number one priority, and we just saw this as an opportunity to protect and take care of those that matter most to us," Guerrero said.
The 20,000 masks available by drive-thru were just the first round of the 100,000 ordered. Each household has a limit of seven masks.
"As many people as in your household is what we're hanging out, up to seven per household, just so we have enough to spread out. We need to keep it at seven just to make sure as many as people can has the opportunity to come by and get some," Frerich said.
The City of San Angelo will update the public when more shipments of masks arrive.