Americans are scrambling for masks so a high-schooler built a donation site
Californian student puts programming skills to use while stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic
As more Americans started using face masks to shield themselves from the coronavirus, Dee Dee Japenga and her colleagues knew that they needed supplies to keep themselves and the nearly five dozen residents at their nursing home safe.
But with many shops around the country running out of masks, staff at the Claremont Manor Care Center near Los Angeles, the worst hit county on the West Coast, just couldn’t get their hands on any. By early March, they realized their usual supplier couldn’t fulfill their orders.
And then they found out about Supply Crate. The website, created by 17-year-old Jackie Ni, connects places looking for masks with donors who can supply them.
Like most students, Ni has been stuck at home in California after the pandemic shut down schools. The high school senior was looking for a way to help, but social distancing meant that volunteering opportunities ordinarily available to people his age have ground to a halt. So he decided to put the one skill that he can still use at home to contribute: Programming.
“Covid-19 is especially dangerous for the older population, and so I really wanted to make sure that I built a site that allows hospitals, senior care facilities, hospice centers to all have a voice in getting their needs out to the public,” he told Abacus.
