Service + Solidarity Spotlight: SMART and South Carolina AFL-CIO Distribute Masks for Kids

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 399 and the South Carolina AFL-CIO have taken action to speed up the process of getting free N95 masks to children in the state who need them. These masks address a need that isn’t currently being met, according to Local 399 member James Hall (not pictured). “You are hard pressed to find a mask made for small children, let alone a KN95,” he said. “So we went ahead and had American-made, nice double-layered masks that are washable and that would actually fit them.”

SMART and the South Carolina AFL-CIO, led by President Charles Brave (TNG-CWA), contend that it is important for students to have access to high-quality masks. “Covid will be around for some time now and with it being around sometime,” Brave said, “the most beautiful thing about it is when it does partly fade away, the mask will make history. They will always have it to hang on to.”