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More on KentOnline
A company has given 180,000 medical face masks, costing over £100,000, to help charities and organisations affected by the pandemic.
This is the largest ever charitable donation by the Dover logistics firm Priority Freight.
The masks are being shipped and personally delivered by its staff to 30 groups across Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Locally the beneficiaries include the Beacon School, Rainbow Centre and Mission Aviation Fellowship in Folkestone and Dover Outreach Centre for the homeless.
Also benefitting are Heart of Kent Hospice in Aylesford, the Pilgrims Hospices group in Margate, Ashford and Canterbury, and the asylum seeker charity Care 4 Calais.
Neal Williams, Priority Freight’s group managing director, said: “Having fought hard to get our company back into a strong position, we wanted to give something back to people who literally spend every hour, of every working day, helping those in need.
“We asked our team members at our offices across Europe for suggestions on where to donate some much-needed medical supplies and were delighted with the response.
" It’s been a tough year for charitable organisations that do great work globally and in local communities.
"We hope the masks will provide some relief and protection from infection."
The masks will be worn by front-line workers at charitable organisations, multiple university hospitals and medical institutions.
They are also for elderly and youth care homes, homeless shelters and poor refugees in Africa.
Priority Freight recently handed over 2,500 masks to Noel Beamish of the Dover Outreach, which is based in Snargate Street.
Mr Beamish, the group's trustees' chairman, said: “We rely on kind-hearted, local people to help us carry out our activities, from winter night shelters to soup kitchens.
"The last thing we want to do is put them, or the people we help, at risk from this terrible virus. "There’s certainly light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine, but we still need PPE and will do for many weeks and months ahead."
Priority Freight's head office is in Whitfield but it also has bases at Heathrow, Coventry, Spain, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
