Multiple businesses and citizens rose to the call of Gov. Gary Herbert’s “A Mask for Every Utahn” initiative in April, sewing and donating time and money to produce more than 2 million masks for those in need during the pandemic.“We had 110 employees,” said Jon Hawkes, CEO of the local company Quilt EZ. “We felt good about that because we were able to employ a lot of people at that time. Other businesses closed, but we were able to hire. Unfortunately that didn’t last forever, but we knew it wouldn’t.”
When the initiative ended in July, the company went back to only six employees. But Hawkes saw an opportunity to keep producing large quantities of masks with a disposable-mask producing machine — the first of its kind in Cache County. Read the rest of the story on HJnews.com.
This story is made possible thanks to a community reporting partnership between The Herald Journal and Utah Public Radio.
