Blessed Sacrament School donates N-95 masks from emergency bins to senior care facility

By Laura Vallejo | Intermountain Catholic

SANDY — Blessed Sacrament Catholic School has been preparing for years for an emergency. Each classroom has a large bin containing items such as water, medical supplies, blankets and lights, all donated by parents. When the 5.7 earthquake hit on March 18, Blessed Sacrament Principal Bryan Penn immediately thought to check those bins.

“We went through our emergency bins to make sure we had everything that we needed there, despite the kids not being here,” Penn said.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Utah Catholic Schools have been offering remote instruction since March 16, so no students were present when the earthquake struck.

As the staff went through the bins, they found what could be considered a treasure: a trove of N-95 masks, a protective device in high demand these days because it protects the wearer from airborne particles carrying the COVID-19 virus. Penn had a discussion with the school’s advancement director, Mariana Pickers, about what they should do with those masks.

“We decided that there was no use or need for them at the school at the moment, so we collected them up, counted them and I started calling around to see who might need them,” Penn said.

Hospital officials told him they needed masks but had already ordered them and were waiting for the shipments. They suggested he find a place that had an immediate need. Students and staff at Blessed Sacrament often volunteer at Sunrise of Sandy, a senior living community, “so I called them, and when I talked to the nurse there, she said, ‘We don’t have any, and we won’t get any,’” Penn said. When he asked whether the senior center would like the several hundred masks from the school, Holly Chambers, the head nurse, almost came to tears.

“We were so moved, we were so thankful,” she said. “We had none. … It was so relieving. … We don’t have [COVID-19] at our facility, but we need to prevent it from coming in. We are trying to do anything and everything to keep our residents safe.”

That includes, now, wearing the masks, she said. Because of the pandemic, no visitors are allowed at the facility, “but, of course, we have the care managers and personnel coming in, so they are wearing the masks to keep our residents safe,” Chambers said.

When Penn dropped off the masks at the facility, he left them at the door, then called in to notify them to come out and get the boxes. The donation of the masks is one way for school officials to teach social justice and model care for the most vulnerable people, Penn said. Most of the school’s families are young and healthy people, so “they are not as much at risk as their grandparents, as the sick,” he said.

However, the school is shut down “to care for one another, for those people outside of our community. It’s not about just protecting ourselves, it’s to protect the larger community.”

Every little thing that people can do to help and support each other counts, Pickers added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s just staying inside our homes, we are caring for each other and that’s what is important,” she said. “It’s not about just us, it is about everybody,” Penn said.