Founder of the Ann Arbor-based Operation Face Shield has launched a first aid donation effort for Ukraine.

ANN ARBOR – Kevin Leeser has been active in organizing donations of PPE since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and now that includes cleaning supplies. Leeser, who launched Operation Face Shield Ann Arbor, recently donated 500 face shields to the Lakota people in South Dakota who have experienced high case numbers. After they asked for cleaning supplies for their quarantined members, Leeser decided to rally the local community to donate supplies, which he is delivering himself this week. Read: Ann Arbor’s Operation Face Shield surpasses 50K donationsFor those who wish to donate funds, tax deductible donations can still be made to “Operation Face Shield” via CashApp. Local businesses Jerusalem Garden and Stadium Hardware donated supplies over the weekend.

ANN ARBOR – At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in Michigan in March, local residents launched Operation Face Shield in response to the shortage of personal protective equipment. Operation Face Shield organizer Kevin Leeser said the group just surpassed 50,000 donations -- about enough to fill the stands in the old Tigers stadium. Operation Face Shield teamed up with medical relief Global Links to send the PPE to Nicaragua and Honduras. Ricardo mass-produced thousands of films, and combined with the invention of an injection mold at Ferris State University which could churn out six frames a minute, Operation Face Shield went from small at-home effort to large-scale operation. Leeser said that Operation Face Shield currently has 2,000 shields ready to donate.