Fil-Am cancer group joins mask campaign for medical front liners

The Filipino American Cancer Care organization has joined the Million Mask Campaign for Covid front liners. CONTRIBUTED

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first Fil-Am cancer care organization in the DC, Maryland and Virginia (DVM) Metropolitan area, has joined the national Million Mask Challenge Initiative to donate DIY face masks for front-line health care personnel.

Filipino American Cancer Care (FACC) Inc. accepted the challenge to sew or buy and donate more than 500 cloth face masks to six area hospitals:

Virginia Cancer Specialists (Arlington, Fairfax & Woodbridge office locations); Reston Hospital Oncology and Radiation Department in Virginia; Medstar Georgetown Hospital Respiratory Department in DC; George Washington University Hospital ER Department in DC; Johns Hopkins Hospital – Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland; Suburban Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine, Montgomery, Maryland.In addition, Chef Evelyn Bunoan, FACC board member, and her husband, Oscar, baked healthful cookies through its partnership with the Cancer Health and Eat Well (CHEW) Foundation. Mama Alice, the mother of Belle Salce, FACC treasurer and owner of Pinay Sweet Creations in Dumfries, Virginia, added 20 dozen home-baked Filipino pandesal bread.

Community volunteers deliver baked good to Fil-Am front liners. CONTRIBUTED

Nearly 500 kalamansi, oatmeal and chocolate cookies were baked to show gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices of Filipinos, Filipino Americans and others during the current health crisis.

“It’s a wonderful feeling that our organization was actually able to produce simple yet tangible ways to show how much we care about these health care workers,” said Josie Moralidad Ziman, founder and president of FACC.

Added Edward Logan, co-founder and executive VP of FACC: “I know first-hand as a cancer patient/survivor how critical this moment is for survival. Our organization already has a powerful narrative story because we know people touched by cancer are making and donating masks in honor of lost loved ones and the very doctors who saved the life of a family member.”

“It is very important to note, that we’re caregivers to a very vulnerable population,” points out Dr. Dipti Patel-Donnelly with Virginia Cancer Specialists. When we see (them) turning around and helping us to take care of more patients, that’s a really humbling thing.”