RACINE — More than 1,000 COVID-19 care packages were distributed to Racine County residents Friday afternoon.
Volunteers, elected officials, and summer employees with the parks program handed out the boxes. Each package was filled with face masks, hand sanitizer, paper towels, toilet paper, and groceries.
"There’s a lot of old people on fixed incomes that can’t afford to go to the Pick 'n Save and spend money that they don’t have for food," said Racine resident Jim Lee.
The drive-thru style giveaway was a much-needed blessing for Marlisa Plunkett, as she said times have been hard recently.
"It's important because lack of money during this time and no work, I really need it for my family," said Plunkett.
Racine’s Mayor Cory Mason and County Executive Jonathan Delegrave were both at the giveaway handing out the items.
"There has been nothing fair about coronavirus, it has had huge impacts on people's health on the economy, so we wanted to have care packages that address both," said Mayor Mason.
The Mayor said the care packages are critical for the health and safety of the community.
"It’s one thing to say people have to wear a mask but it’s harder to do if they don’t have them, so we want to get masks to as many people as we can," said Mayor Mason.
Officials believe this is how we will ultimately get through the pandemic, by everyone coming together.
"We have been trying to respond to the pandemic proactively since March. We kind of tagged ourselves as resilient Racine County and this is a great example of being resilient," said Delagrave.
The packages also included information on medical and mental health support.
The event was made possible through donations from local businesses and nonprofits.
