New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft took things into his own hands, or aircraft, in this case, after Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker warned that his state was facing a shortage of protective equipment which included masks.
In response, Kraft sent his team’s jet to China to get 1.7 million masks while also donating $2 million or half the cost of the masks.
Gov. Baker had reportedly ordered more than one million masks from Chinese manufacturers but faced the problem of transporting them because of the situation of flights in and out of China.
The governor contacted Robert Kraft’s son. The Wall Street Journal reported, “Gov. Baker, the U.S. State Department, Robert Kraft, and others sent letters to China’s consul general in New York requesting the special permits.
The letters, dated March 24 to 30, ask for waivers to allow the humanitarian mission and state that no member of the crew would leave the aircraft.”
According to Politico, “Gov.
Charlie Baker will greet the National Football League team’s plane when it arrives at Logan Airport with Patriots owner Bob Kraft and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. From there, the state’s National Guard will transport the equipment to a strategic stockpile in Marlboro, Mass.
, according to the person familiar with the plans.”
Kraft told The Wall Street Journal, “I’ve never seen so much red tape in so many ways and obstacles that we had to overcome. In today’s world, those of us who are fortunate to make a difference have a significant responsibility to do so with all the assets we have available to us.”
Nearly 8,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus were tallied in Massachusetts on April 1. Politico noted, “The state converted an arena in Worcester, Mass., into a 250-bed field hospital Wednesday as it prepares for an influx in patients, and is eyeing a Boston convention center as another possible hospital site.”
But Kraft isn’t satisfied with helping only his own state. He plans to donate 300,000 masks to residents in New York and New Jersey.
Baker tweeted, “No days off. Thanks to some serious teamwork, Massachusetts is set to receive over 1 million N95 masks for our front-line workers. Huge thanks to the Krafts and several dedicated partners for making this happen.”
In a Fox & Friends appearance in February 2019, Kraft said, “I pinch myself all the time that I have the privilege of owning my home town team, and I love having the responsibility of managing it; if you do a good job you do a great job for your community.
” He added, “If you have people your community can identify with, what we do out in the community, how we connect with our fans, I’m pretty proud of our guys. I think we’ve tried to bring pride to our community over the last 25 years.”
Of President Trump, he added, “He’s been very supportive. I know he’s working very hard to serve the best interests of the country.”
Replaced!