LDAPA donates thousands of masks to PA special education departments

The need for quality PPE equip­ment during the COVID-19 pan­demic has been especially acute in special education departments due to the heightened need for in-person instruction.

One organization that understands this plight better than most is The Learning Disabilities Association of Pennsylvania (LDAPA). As a result, LDAPA held a fundraiser that allowed them to donate much-needed PPE equipment to thousands of educators.

“Our goal at the Learning Disabilities Association of Pennsylvania is to help students and adults with learning differ­ences succeed,” said LDAPA Founder and President Collin Diedrich. “We also want to help the entire disability com­munity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic since students in special education need in-person interactions and might not be able to wear masks. So we decided to create a fundraiser al­lowing us to send high-quality N95 and KN95 masks and face shields to special education teachers and staff members across the state!”

Donations for the masks poured in, allowing LDAPA to send out almost 7,000 N95 and KN95 masks and 420 face shields to almost 1,400 special ed­ucation teachers and staff members across Pennsylvania.

“This January the LDAPA worked wonders improving the morale of the staff of the DCIU when they graciously included us in a donation of KN95 masks for use in our classrooms,” said Lynne Baer, a teacher at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit. “We shared the masks with all staff who work with our students, most of whom have been receiving in-person instruction since the beginning of the school year in Sep­tember. The KN95 masks made us all feel a little bit safer and truly appreci­ated. We were truly grateful for the ac­knowledgement that we are doing our best to provide a quality education with compassion to our mostly special edu­cation population.”

As of press time, the fundraiser was still active and accepting donations to cover the full cost of the PPE equip­ment already sent out, and also allow­ing requests from districts in need.

Learn more about the excellent work LDAPA is doing at www.LDAofPA.org