NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — A free drive-thru mask giveaway will be held this week in Niagara County for local businesses.
The giveaway, co-hosted by the Niagara County Department of Emergency Services and the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce, will be held on Thursday, Jan. 6 at the Public Safety Training Facility in Lockport.
According to county officials, masks will be available for any Niagara County businesses, along with signage about New York State's masking requirements. The county notes that supplies are limited.
"As we have stated, we are taking an ‘educate to cooperate’ approach for masking and with that, we want to provide the necessary materials to help businesses comply," said Becky Wydysh, chairman of the Niagara County Legislature. "Our previous drive-thru events have been hugely successful and we encourage businesses to take advantage of this opportunity."
The drive-thru mask distribution will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Warren J. Rathke Public Safety Training Facility located at 5574 Niagara Street Ext. in Lockport.
“We are happy to team up with Niagara County to get the word out to the business community about the availability of masks and signage,” said Kory Schuler, executive director of the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce. “Our smaller businesses especially appreciate the assistance.”
Director of Emergency Services Jonathan Schultz says New York State has shipped thousands of KN95 masks to Niagara County to be distributed to the community.
“We have been receiving phone calls and emails from businesses who remember our previous drive thru events hoping we would be do something similar so when the state informed us about this supply we were going to receive, we got together with the Chamber to put this event together quickly,” Schultz said. “We are expecting a significant turnout.”
