Over 128,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 8,000 thermometers stacked on large pallets were rolled out from Sweetwater High School on Wednesday morning, bound for delivery to local schools, the city of Chula Vista, and small businesses in National City as well as Tijuana and other areas hit hard by COVID-19 that are in short supply of personal protective equipment.
The personal protective equipment, or PPE, donation effort came together through a coordinated effort between National City Mayor Sotelo-Solis and Last Mile San Diego Co-founder Amy Aminlari, facilitated by Local 229 Ironworkers who loaded the trucks with box after box of supplies, and delivered by Teamsters Local 542 drivers.
Last Mile is a grassroots volunteer group whose mission is to protect healthcare workers and communities most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the different challenges of local neighborhoods.
According to Aminlari, the national Last Mile group recently transitioned from distribution efforts to an educational-based push for policy change.
Aminlari, who also works as a San Diego-based emergency physician, said National City is among the highest hit areas dealing with the pandemic in San Diego County and that it is important to focus on M.A.D: masking, airflow and distancing.
“If you are Black or Latinx, your chance of dying from COVID is tripled. National City is among the highest rates in our area and unfortunately, many people are still without PPE,” Aminlari said.
The initiative for the mass donation actually began back in December, she said, with the last surge of cases and although the general perception is that healthcare workers are better off now, there are still facilities lacking PPE.
“There are still people in need,” Aminlari said.
Mayor Sotelo-Solis said until the community reaches about 75-80% herd immunity, National City residents still need to practice physical distancing, masking and frequent sanitizing.
Local non-profit Murphy’s Produce With Purpose, a food distributor that provides fresh produce to organizations and individuals in need also volunteered their time and labor.
Murphy’s representative Rosie Montaño said the group was there to support the initiative because “nobody can do this alone”.
