CONGREGATIONS in Carrickfergus have been given a total of 18,000 free face masks thanks to a donation from Peter Clarke, the co-owner of Carrick Rangers Football Club and a vice president of the multi-national Flex corporation.
The masks have gone to all of the Co Antrim town's churches and places of worship, including Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist congregations.
Mr Clarke said the idea to give all churchgoers in Carrickfergus a free mask came about after Flex started manufacturing masks for its 160,000 staff in 30 countries.
Flex designs, manufactures and supplies all sorts of products, including for the healthcare industry, but had not previously made face masks.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company experienced the same shortage of masks as everyone else.
Because it didn't want to take stock away from frontline workers, Mr Clarke said Flex set about creating its own supply.
"We estimated that we needed at least a million masks per week for factory workers alone," he said.
"There was no choice but to manufacture the masks ourselves. That effort required a global team to work around the clock to secure supplies, coordinate logistics and learn as they went along.
"The result was that we went from never having made a single mask before, to producing 30 million masks in just 22 weeks."
The success of that project has meant that the company has been able to look beyond its own needs and make the Carrickfergus mask donation.
"There is no doubt that we will need to wear face masks to help stop the spread of this virus for some time to come," said Mr Clarke.
"I was aware that maintaining a personal supply can add up financially, and I thought there was a great opportunity for our company to support our community in Carrickfergus where I've been involved with Carrick Rangers for many years."
