April 4, 2020
To all Forward employees,
As we continue to explore ways to keep our employees and customers safe, I’d like to let everyone know we are in the process of securing cloth masks for our frontline team members to align with a recent CDC recommendation.
In anticipation of this new federal recommendation, we have been working behind the scenes to secure sourcing for the last two weeks and hope to begin distributing to our convenience stores and Subways as early as this week.
Wearing these masks will be voluntary and is not required, but the CDC now says wearing cloth masks is a good practice where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. However, masks should not be used in place of the six-foot social distancing guidelines and are to be used to supplement other safety measures.
Mid-Michigan Mask Makers (4M) will be providing the masks. They are comprised of almost 300 volunteers that hand-sew masks for essential employees in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
Forward donated 800 square yards of fabric from T.R. McTaggart for the masks and $300 in Forward gift cards to help cover transportation and delivery charges. The fabric donation will help make several thousand masks and so the additional fabric supplied will be directed to provide even more masks for critical healthcare workers in the area.
Employees who wish to have a mask as soon as possible can wear a bandana or other hand-sewn mask. For more information about the CDC recommendation, as well as a link about how to make your own face covering, please visit the CDC Web site.
For additional information about our partnership with 4M, please see our recent press release.
Thank you again for your dedication and all you do for Forward. Stay safe and stay healthy.
Sincerely,
Abby Moniz
President, Forward Corp.