Welcome to our Masks4Misions Toolkit
February 18, 2021

COVID-19 cases are again surging across the country. It’s natural to feel powerless in the face of a pandemic. But if there is anything we have learned from launching a youth-led program to provide masks to those in need, it’s that we are not powerless. And you can join us our effort to save lives and build stronger communities.

Last August, a small group of us created Masks4Missions and since then we have created and distributed over 100,000 masks. This Toolkit provides the keys we have found and resources we created to make it possible. We hope you and your friends can take this information and make a difference in your community by getting masks to the people who need them most.

We do not charge for any of these resources.

It all started about five months ago, shortly after I graduated from high school. I wanted to help fight COVID but couldn’t find a job, so I started Masks4Missions, a social enterprise project whose mission is to design, produce, and distribute masks in order to save lives and support our nonprofits in Vermont. What I did not know then was how quickly it would grow beyond Vermont.

To build support for masks and our public education program, we worked with the Vermont’s State Legislature, Governor’s Office, VT Foodbank, and more than 40 other nonprofits to create a state-wide Vermont Mask Day on October 6, 2020. By October we had designed and distributed masks for dozens of Vermont nonprofits and distributed over 25,000 masks. Since November we have engaged communities first in New England and now we have partnered with nonprofits in all 50 states and distributed over 100,000 masks. 

These successes have proved that there is still a massive need for masks and an appetite for action—we believe that in your communities, in the offices of your local politicians, your community foundations and nonprofits, your schools and colleges, the need is there and we hope to help you meet it.

Included below is the first draft of our Toolkit and Resource Guide to help you start your own mask program.  So long as you are doing it on a nonprofit basis (e.g., under the auspices of a public charity), use any or all of it as a blueprint for your success.. One caveat, we provide this Toolkit, these ideas, and resource lists at no cost to you, and we make no commissions or fees from any of the vendors or others mentioned. Therefore, we cannot guarantee anything or take any responsibility for the actions you take, or the masks you make. 

The Toolkit, which can also be viewed online at www.masks4missions.org/toolkit, includes the items detailed on the next page.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and leadership in your community. If you have any questions or would like to speak more about how Masks4Missions might be able to help you keep your community safe, please reach out to me and my team at info@masks4missions.org.

In Solidarity,

Doug Altshuler,
Founder of Masks4Missions