Masking up to beat COVID-19 is a lot easier at Wiscasset Middle High School for staff, students and visitors following a donation of 5,000 surgical-style masks from Ford Motor Co.

Warren Cossette, assistant principal and athletic director, said he contacted the Dearborn, Michigan based automaker after hearing about the free face mask offer at a seminar. Cossette applied online in January and two cartons of face masks arrived this month.

WMHS School nurse Sommer Maybee said the masks were gratefully received and couldn’t have come at a better time. “It’s really great to have them especially now that we’re getting more students returning to school following the February vacation break.”

Maybee said she’s given packets of face masks to every staff member to have in their classroom. “They’re really well made and I think a bit more durable than the standard blue surgical masks,” she told the Wiscasset Newspaper.

The rectangular masks are white with polypropylene inner and outer layers, have an bendable nose band and elastic ear loops. The oval Ford logo is embossed in the upper right hand corner. The masks were manufactured at the company’s Van Dyke Transmission plant located in Sterling, Michigan.

“Students and staff seem to like them; they fit snuggly and they’ve sent us more than enough to get through the remainder of the school year,” added nurse Maybee.

The free face masks are a part of Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers “Finish Strong” program encouraging Americans to pull together to help save lives until COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available.

The automaker has pledged to donate 120 million masks to at-risk communities across the United States by mid-2021. They’re also donating face shields and other PPE items.

According to the Ford Motor Co. website, since August the automaker has distributed more than 66 million medical-grade masks to nonprofit organizations, state and local officials, first responders, schools, and community groups in all 50 states.