Las Vegas-based health and wellness company Boomer Naturals is donating 15,000 high-quality face masks — a value of nearly $150,000 — to the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County (BGCDC) to distribute to anyone who needs one, free of charge.
“The quality of these masks are the best I’ve seen so far. They’re comfortable, they’re well-made, and I’m just thankful that they’re doing this,” BGCDC CEO Michael Johnson said in an interview Friday.
Boomer Naturals’ primary business has been botanical terpene blends, which are similar to popular CBD oil products but come from plants other than cannabis.
“That was our flagship product for the past year and when the pandemic hit, we saw a need to help people … protect themselves as well,” Boomer Naturals CEO Mike Quaid said. “The botanical terpene blend does a good job of building up your immune system, but certainly there’s more going on than just your immune system. Why not incorporate face masks and other PPE to help prevent it to get to your body?”
Quaid said the company has been selling face coverings at a brisk pace, and months ago made the commitment to donate a mask to a nonprofit organization for every order of one or more masks. Boomer Naturals say they’ve committed to giving more than 117,000 masks to 33 organizations around the country, ranging from a dog shelter to a Salvation Army to churches, from New York to Washington state to southern California, and many points in between. The masks being donated retail for $9.70 each.
“Fortunately for us, we got introduced to Michael Johnson and all the great work he does at the Boys and Girls Club in Madison. And I said, ‘here’s a guy that’s going to know who to give these masks to, who we can trust to do the right thing with these things,'” Quaid said. “I’m so impressed with Michael and everything he’s doing for the community. We were thrilled to partner with him.”
Johnson said he told Quaid the need is especially acute now, as Governor Tony Evers has mandated that all state employees wear masks at work, and everyone in Dane County is required to wear masks indoors.
After hearing about that need, along with the BGCDC’s pop-up testing program aimed at communities of color, Boomer Naturals shipped 5,000 masks overnight, and has committed to donate 10,000 more, including 1,000 that will be delivered Monday at a press event with Johnson and Boomer Naturals vice president of business development Jake Quaid.
Johnson said masks will be distributed at the pop-up testing sites being hosted in neighborhoods over the next two weeks, as well as through other local nonprofit organizations, though details are still being worked out.
“We’ll give some to some community partners. We’ll give them out at the testing sites. We haven’t determined (distribution details). We plan on giving every last one of them out,” Johnson said.
