Supporting 1M Masks for NYC

The current pandemic has challenged us all in ways that seemed unimaginable just a couple of months ago. At StormForge, we’re aware of how fortunate we are to be able to do our jobs remotely, continue advancing our technology and remain connected with our communities. As our company grows, we have a responsibility to use our resources — including the company’s time, energy, funding and influence — to affect positive change when and where we can. This has been part of our collective mission since we founded the company and it’s more important than ever today.

Many of our employees are based in Boston and Washington, DC, but we’ve all watched with great concern as residents of New York have suffered shockingly high levels of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths. In the face of this catastrophe, we asked ourselves what we might do to try to support New York in a way that has immediate impact and that may bring some small measure of relief to the individuals who are risking their own health to assist others.

StormForge is supporting One Million Masks, a grassroots non-profit organization working with the New York startup community to get one million masks from trusted factories to emergency rooms and intensive care units. The organization initially focused on NYU Langone Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian, but has since expanded its work to include all New York City area hospitals, as well as nursing homes, jail complexes and other correctional facilities. It is also offering limited shipping to verified healthcare workers across the U.S.

1M Masks arose to take on an issue that is, at its core, a monumental supply chain failure. Each of these two large New York hospitals goes through well over 10,000 masks per day, and with traditional supply chains for personal protective equipment bottle-necked, getting masks to the people who urgently need them proved too difficult a task for overwhelmed hospital administers. The goal of 1M Masks is to put supply chain technology experts up against the immediate problem of securing masks, and then accelerating their delivery directly to medical centers — and to cover all associated expenses.

Some of the organizations behind 1M Masks have focused on working through supply chain and logistics issues, but donations of cash are also needed. 100% of the funds raised go to the purchase and distribution of PPE for healthcare workers.

We’ve been able to provide financial support for 1M Masks and invite others to learn more about the organization and consider supporting it as well. To date, the group has shipped over 280,000 masks, of which 140,000 have already been delivered into the hands of front line healthcare workers. If you’re in a position to help or would like to learn more, please visit One Million Masks NYC.