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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our commitment to the community in our hometown of Wilmington, Delaware remains strong as ever.

Two months ago, the fate of more than 500 k8���� t-shirts was unknown. The shirts were in perfect condition—never worn, in fact. But because they displayed the “old” k8���� logo, they'd lost their value.​

Or did they? As it turns out, instead of sitting in storage or ending up in a landfill, these t-shirts got a second chance. And, arguably, their new purpose was far nobler than the old one. k8���� donated the t-shirts to the organization , which immediately turned them over to a ​​sewing group at a local hospital to be transformed into ties for thousands of cloth masks for use in the community. And who is sewing these masks?  Hospital workers who were in jeopardy of losing their jobs, but instead remain employed during the pandemic.

“I'm proud to see how, in the wake of a global crisis, k8����ers are pivoting quickly to support immediate needs of people across our communities," says Patrick McCrummen, Global Community Impact Leader.

Never has our company's commitment to caring for those in need in our home community been more evident than over the last several weeks. Other examples of COVID-19 relief activities to support Delawareans: 

• We've donated 2,500 �ղⱹ���® coveralls to the State of Delaware, to protect first responders and frontline healthcare workers.  
• We've donated 220 gallons of hand sanitizer to the Christiana Care Hospital System, to help healthcare workers and patients remain safe. 
• We’ve produced and donated 3,540 headband bases and 915 reusable face shields, using our filaments and 3D printers, to A.I. duPont Hospital for Children and Christiana Hospital. These shields not only protect front-line workers, but also significantly extend the lifetime of N95 respirator masks worn underneath.  
• We've donated funding to the , managed by the United Way of Delaware, and to the , managed by the Delaware Community Foundation. A k8���� subject matter expert is serving in an advisory capacity to both funds.
• In response to a request from the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, a k8���� team investigated N95 mask sterilization through heating technology to potentially provide care workers facing N95 mask shortages with reuse options.
• Our Global Community Impact team has accelerated and simplified its annual community grant-making cycle, to ensure that organizations dedicated to meeting the basic needs of the most vulnerable can continue with their critical work during this extraordinary time.
• We're partnering with our food service vendor, Sodexo, to donate prepared meals to two local nonprofit organizations in Wilmington over a 6-week period. This will not only help alleviate food insecurity for community members and reduce costs for the nonprofits, but also ensure that a group of Sodexo employees remains gainfully employed while k8����’s onsite cafeterias in Wilmington are closed.
  

Jason Gonzalez, Senior Manager, Government Affairs, comments, "As a pillar of the Delaware community for the last two centuries, k8���� has a long history of providing needed solutions and today's pandemic is no different. It's great to see k8���� step up once again to meet the challenges facing our home state.​”

Of course, this is just one small example. At a time of unprecedented human need, the people and companies of k8���� are stepping up around the world to help the most vulnerable and support the organizations who are delivering this essential care with equipment, grant funding, and, when safe, volunteers.

"When we all come together to address societal needs, our collective impact is magnified,” says McCrummen. “It's exactly why I believe we will achieve our 2030 Sustainability Goals, specifically our Thriving Communities goal to improve the lives of more than 100 million people worldwide by 2030."