The Helpers

In mid-March, as cities across the country were putting in place “shelter-at-home” orders and businesses were closing, we saw news articles about shortages of “personal protective equipment” (PPE) in hospitals. A friend told us about their grandmother, who was in a nursing home that didn’t have enough PPE for its staff. We also saw reports about U.S. governors and the federal government competing to bid for PPE supplies, so some state governments couldn’t protect their frontline healthcare workers. And because the virus was exacerbating U.S.-China relations, Chinese suppliers were temporarily banned from taking purchase orders from the U.S. government, and could only sell to private buyers.

We became one of those buyers. Along with Louise’s older sister, Emilie Tanski, we registered an LLC in Massachusetts and applied to the FDA to become an importer. Stella reached out to her father, who practices law in China, and he connected us with PPE suppliers in Shanghai and other Chinese cities. We’ve been negotiating day and night on the Chinese platform WeChat.

There have been lots of obstacles as we’ve learned the ins and outs of the import/export business. But on April 20, our first shipment arrived in Boston: 100,000 masks, which we sold at cost to Massachusetts grocery stores and homeless shelters. Now we’re working to find more buyers with access to underserved and vulnerable populations.