TEWKSBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - A Tewksbury hockey charity is helping to repurpose gear for the rink into protective equipment for medical workers.
Drew Laine, the founder of the Penalty Box Foundation, learned that his company was starting to make face shields for first responders, he knew he had to help.
“As soon as we saw that we reached out and said we need to be involved here,” Laine said. “This is our sport, you are one of our companies, we need to be sure we’re involved in taking care of those across the board.”
Laine and Penalty Box bought 1,200 of the face shields from Sparx, which normally makes skate sharpeners and other ice hockey gear. They’ll give the shields to ten hospitals across the state.
“It was just the right thing to do, you see so many of the nurses and doctors who are out there who are on the front lines doing such great work,” Laine said. “We’re sitting at home on our couches, it’s something little that we could do to step up and making sure that we are taking care of our own, which is our motto at the Penalty Box Foundation.”
The foundation raised more than $10,000 to buy the masks and Laine said the community was quick to support their cause.
“Within 24 hours the word had spread of what we were doing across the community, everybody jumped in to help out,” Laine said. “It was absolutely remarkable to see.”
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