FORD DONATES COVID-19 FACE SHIELDS TO U.S. MILITARY BASES
May 26, 2020
Collaborating with the Department of Defense, Ford delivered 200,000 face shields to military bases in both the U.S. and in areas where our troops are currently deployed.
"We know that our military has to stand ready to fight, regardless of COVID-19, and we just wanted to make a donation giving back to our service members," Vanessa Benson, the Ford Military Ambassador and a retired Army colonel, told Fox News.
During the pandemic, Ford had to stop making automobiles for the first time since World War II and shifted to producing personal protective equipment. This equipment is made by employees who volunteered to come back to work, although in some cases they would have made more money staying home on unemployment.
The face shields are constructed from car parts and have been shipped around the world to locations including Fort Hood in Texas, the New Hampshire National Guard, the U.S.S. Ford aircraft carrier, Afghanistan and Syria.
Fort Hood has already received 50,000 face shields and West Point has received its shipment of 30,000, which Ford hopes will be on display when cadets come back to campus and congregate on June 13 for their graduation from the U.S. Military Academy.
"We hope to see them use [the face shields] for their graduation in June," Benson said.
