Clarkston, GA – Now that Dekalb County has announced its school reopening plan, and is planning to reopen virtually, at least for the first month, the group at Clarkston’s Mad Dash for Masks is breathing a sigh of relief, a press release says.

“We’re thrilled with Dekalb’s announcement, but we were prepared for it to go either way,” said Susan Cooper, one of the group’s founders. “We still want to be sure that when the Clarkston kids are called back to school, or if they’re out in the community, they have masks to wear.”

The group wants to provide three masks per student – one to wear, one for the laundry, and one backup, for approximately 6,100 students. The group is aiming to collect 20,000 masks total by August 31, and to donate any surplus back to the Clarkston community.

The group, which has an active presence on Facebook and Instagram, is encouraging the community to donate in three ways:

– Donate homemade masks via donation boxes located at Refuge Coffee in Clarkston, Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church in East Atlanta, and Taproom Coffee in Kirkwood;

– Donate purchased masks – the group is encouraging the community to purchase from Clarkston’s Amani Women Center, which has made it easy to purchase via its online order form;

– Donate funds toward a bulk purchase of ethically-produced handmade masks at a bulk rate. Donations can be made via GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/mad-dash-for-masks.

The schools that make up the Clarkston cluster are all Title 1 schools and 100 percent of the students who attend participate in the free lunch program. Many of the parents take buses to work in the poultry plants, which have seen a high rate of exposure to Covid-19.

“Many of the masks for kids are 13, or 15 dollars,” Cooper continued. “Some of these families don’t have any income right now.”

Cooper is working with two other women, a Clarkston teacher and a parent in the community. “We just wanted to help out our families however we could. And we’ve been amazed by the support from the community.”

Here’s more information on how to participate in this effort:

[adsanity id=”59104″ align=”alignleft” /] [adsanity id=”56211″ align=”alignright” /]

[adsanity id=”61010″ align=”alignleft” /] [adsanity id=”59208″ align=”alignright” /]

Decaturish.com is working to keep your community informed about coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. All of our coverage on this topic can be found at Decaturishscrubs.com. If you appreciate our work on this story, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about what your community is doing to stop the spread of COVID-19. To become a supporter, click here. 

Want Decaturish delivered to your inbox every day? Sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here. 

[adsanity id=”56022″ align=”aligncenter” /]

[adsanity id=”59106″ align=”alignleft” /]  [adsanity id=”52166″ align=”alignright” /]