Local volunteers making a difference

By Sharon Perea

In mid-March local Gilpin County resident, Laura Richards, began creating and distributing a few free face masks. The Mountain Mask Project was born and less than two months later it has grown to 56 volunteers who have created and distributed over 3,800 free masks to hundreds of residents and more than 75 businesses and organizations across our mountains from Ward to Evergreen!

Volunteers have been cutting, sewing, driving, providing tech support, printing, raising funds and extending the community outreach. Their endless efforts have made possible the availability of masks for our first responders (fire, ambulance, sheriff and emergency operations) plus essential workers in our city and county governments including the Golden Gate State Park.

The Mountain Mask Project provides free masks for local business employees and their customers. Please support our local businesses. A huge thank you to all the volunteers for working so hard to keep our mountain communities safe!