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APRIL 22, 2020
VOL. 101, NO. 17
Pledge 1200 campaign raises awareness for small businesses UW grad urging residents to spend stimulus money in local neighborhoods
DR. UNIVERSE
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SENIORS
By Jessica Keller
QA&Mag News editor
After his neighborhood businesses and restaurants were forced to either close or reduce services because of the coronavirus pandemic, a University of Washington graduate launched a grassroots effort to raise awareness and support those small enterprises. With a few friends, Capitol Hill resident Aubrey MacKenzie founded the Pledge 1200 campaign, which asks residents to pledge to spend as much of their coronavirus stimulus package money as they can to support the small businesses and restaurants in their neighborhoods or towns. Although MacKenzie realizes many people are spending their stimulus money on groceries and necessities, he hopes this campaign will get people to think about the small businesses and restaurants in their communities and how they need support to weather the crisis and stay open. “They’re supporting our families and friends who they’re employing, so I know the money is best spent supporting them,” MacKenzie said. “It’s the best way.” MacKenzie said he realizes asking CAMPAIGN, Page 8
QA&Mag News editor
Concerned about the spread of COVID-19 in Washington state, a Magnolia man has both personally and with others collected safety masks and distributed them to those in need. Sean Wang said via email, he first began collecting masks in early March out of concern for his friends. “From the very beginning, I knew people would need masks if the virus started to spread in the U.S.,” Wang said. Wang, who was born in northern China, received a few dozen masks from friends in
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LETTERS
T JUS
Photo courtesy Aubrey MacKenzie Recent University of Washington graduate Aubrey MacKenzie poses with a sign promoting his grassroots campaign, Pledge 1200, asking people to support small businesses and restaurants in their local neighborhoods by spending at least a portion of their stimulus checks on those enterprises.
Magnolia man gives back by distributing masks By Jessica Keller
FEATURED STORIES
China and shared them with his friends and his children’s teachers at Lawton Elementary School. Wang was not content to stop there, however. “In mid-March, I came across articles saying that our healthcare workers and first responders did not have enough PPE,” Wang said. So, he enlisted the help of several friends in Shanghai, China, and ordered 1,200 disposable medical masks from a trustworthy factory with good quality control and had them shipped here. To spread the word, he posted on the social media platform Nextdoor and received many requests from
local doctors, nurses and pharmacists, he said. He delivered them to staff at Swedish Ballard, the University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente. Wang said he gave each person 40 to 80 masks but 200 to a nurse at Swedish Ballard emergency room because his mother received good care there two years ago. His 7-year-old twins also got involved by helping their dad deliver a few packages in Magnolia. “They felt very powerful knowing they were giving people weapons to fight the virus,” he said. Wang has also been part of
a mask collection and distribution effort through his volunteer work for the Seattle Tsinghua Alumni Association. Wang, who graduated from Tsinghua University in Beijing before moving to the United States for graduate school, said the STAA has hundreds of graduates in the Seattle area. It has a team of volunteers, some with related experience in healthcare or manufacturing, procuring the masks. The alumni association’s first shipment of 10,000 masks arrived April 1, and Wang distributed them in west Seattle to Columbia Lutheran Home, MASKS, Page 8
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