The Detroit Lions are partnering with a Detroit nonprofit sewing operation to try to help provide hospital gowns and face masks to hospitals in Michigan in need of supplies to fight the coronavirus.
What started as conversations over the past few weeks among The Empowerment Plan, the Lions and other local companies began to take shape over the past few days as they tried to determine how they could best help.
The Empowerment Plan typically makes coats that double as sleeping bags, and all of its industrial sewing machine operators are hired from shelters throughout Detroit.
“We are looking to produce hospital gowns and face masks, surgical face masks,” said Veronika Scott, CEO of The Empowerment Plan. “We are partnering with an organization called ISAC [Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center] locally along with a few other small companies to make this possible.
“Our goal is to be a feeder to local hospitals for these critically needed items.”
The plan, Scott said, is to continue prototypes while starting to train her workers next week while producing masks. Her hope is to create 6,000 masks per week when fully operational, but she said she couldn’t give an exact number until more logistics are finalized.
“We know that there’s a clear need for our coats, and we paused production on that right now,” Scott said. “This is another product similar to the product that we already make that is needed by the community desperately.
“We feel like we have a unique opportunity to come together with other nonprofits, other organizations, and fill that need. That’s huge for us while also simultaneously maintaining the jobs and the stability of those that we serve.”
With the mask project, Scott said up to 15 industrial sewing machine operators will return to work after coat operations had been shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Scott said she’s been able to keep paying her employees during the stoppage.
The idea to create gowns and masks had already been started by Scott and ISAC when she began to field calls — including some from people connected with the Lions — asking what help was needed.
While the cost is still unknown, Scott told ESPN that the Lions “are looking to cover as much as possible. They have been very generous.”
Lions coach Matt Patricia has been in contact with Empowerment Plan board chairman Steve Hamp, who is the husband of Lions’ vice chair Sheila Ford Hamp.
Patricia told the Detroit News that he reached out to the organization after a conversation with his wife, Raina, about whether or not the sewing operation could be transitioned into an operation that could make masks.
“I was like, ‘That’s a great idea,'” Patricia told the Detroit News. “‘Let me find out.'”
Patricia told the News he reached out to players — starting with team captain and linebacker Jarrad Davis — to see if they would also assist. It’s not clear how much financial assistance the coaching staff and players would provide — in part because the cost is still hard to figure.
“He is so great with all that stuff and he’s very generous,” Patricia told the News. “JD is spearheading this with the players, getting the information out. He’s really stepped up from that standpoint.”
The Lions have partnered with The Empowerment Plan in the past as part of the “Inspire Change” program that provides money and services to organizations around Detroit.
The New England Patriots have also donated money to The Empowerment Plan for coats in the past. The team’s lead counsel, Robyn Glazer, sits on the board of directors. When some members of the Patriots started migrating to Detroit to play for the Lions, they helped grow the partnership between the organization and the team.
This is the latest effort from those within the Lions organization to help during the pandemic. Running backs coach Kyle Caskey and his wife held a fundraiser to provide meals through the Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit, and quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly, donated thousands of dollars for meals through local restaurants to hospital workers and first responders, and gave $100,000 to local charities helping with COVID-19 relief.