Thank you Puyallup For Your Generosity!

Posted on: October 6, 2020

City of Puyallup Recognized by School District for Pandemic Support Activities

On Monday, October 5th, the Puyallup School District Board recognized the City of Puyallup for two initiatives to support the local community during the pandemic. The PSD Board saluted the City for its efforts to obtain and distribute child-sized masks to students in the Puyallup School District, and for making housing assistance grants available to residents needing help with rent or mortgage payments. In August, staff from the City’s Emergency Operations Center learned that the School District was having a hard time obtaining child-sized face masks due to a significant manufacturing backlog for these items. Louise Darcy, Emergency Management Technician, reached out to the company Purple to ask if it would be willing to donate any number of child-sized masks. Purple responded by donating 3,000 masks for distribution to children in Puyallup, which were handed out in September. In addition to the face masks from Purple, the City also received handmade child-sized masks from local and national volunteers. The largest locally-sewn bundle came from ACT-A Common Thread via United Way of Pierce County. Others who contributed were First Baptist Church of Puyallup, the local chapter of Children's Humanitarian Services, and area resident Karen Schwartz. “The City of Puyallup Emergency Management Division has benefited from a great partnership with the Puyallup School District over the years,” said Kirstin Hofmann, Emergency Manager for the City. “This partnership has been especially valuable as the COVID-19 public health emergency has impacted our community. Last summer, we worked with the School District to distribute adult-sized face masks in collaboration with Communities in Schools. Soon after, multiple contributors came forward to help with the effort to distribute youth face masks. We are very thankful for everyone who stepped up to make these public health collaborations possible.” In September, Communities in Schools and All Saints Community Services began distributing grants for rent or mortgage assistance. This financial relief was made possible by the Puyallup City Council’s action to allocate $100,000 in federal CARES Act funding to residents at risk of eviction or foreclosure. Offering this critical aid to persons struggling with an unstable housing situation is an important use of CARES funds. The recognition from the Board of the Puyallup School District was on behalf of PSD students and families who benefited by the mask giveaways and the housing assistance funds