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SALT LAKE CITY — Beehive Clothing is focused on a different task these days. Instead of solely making religious clothing, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned manufacturer is producing masks needed by those in the medical field.
That is part of a global effort by the church to address the novel coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, in a letter by the First Presidency, the church announced it has approved 110 COVID-19 relief projects in 57 countries to date.
“We know that God will hear and answer our prayers. We have been taught to be ‘anxiously engaged’ in relieving suffering and caring for those in need,” the letter reads.
Most of the projects have been with humanitarian agencies, health ministries and hospitals, the letter says. The church has donated resources such as food, personal protective equipment, medical equipment and money to help fight the effects of the virus.
And it has shifted the focus of Beehive Clothing to help make the protective gear needed by medical workers. Beehive Clothing facilities in Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, the Philippines and Utah will begin sewing medical masks. In Utah, it will also manufacture medical gowns.
“We’re trying to work with governments (and) community leaders and find out what they need and then respond,” Sister Sharon Eubank, president of Latter-day Saint Charities and a member of the Relief Society general presidency, said in a prepared statement. “We have mobilized the Relief Society and their families to help with some of these projects.”
In Utah, the church, as part of a partnership between Latter-day Saint Charities, Intermountain Healthcare and University of Utah Health, is organizing members to help sew 5 million clinical face masks to be donated to health care workers.
“We invite our members to participate in these and other relief projects in their areas and communities as opportunities arise and as local government directives and personal circumstances allow,” the First Presidency letter says.
