BY GRANT LANCASTER
Boy Scouts from New York donated more than 17,000 neckerchiefs to hospitals and community organizations to provide non-medical face masks for New Yorkers.
These masks are not meant for medical use, but intended to help New Yorkers comply with state orders to wear face coverings in public and hopefully free up some medical-grade masks for healthcare workers, said Ethan Draddy, executive of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts of America.
The idea came from Jacob Finch, an Eagle Scout from Ballston Spa, NY, who suggested that the Scouts could donate unused neckerchiefs as face masks.
The Scouts gave 1,000 neckerchiefs to Mt. Sinai Queens, 500 to Maimonides Hospital, 500 to Bellevue Hospital, 5,000 to the office of the Staten Island Borough President, 1,000 to the Oneness Rehoboth Apostolic Church and 8,716 to the Meitheal-Irish Americans in Support of Healthcare.
These organizations will distribute them to those in need, such as essential workers riding public transit.
