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NFL: NOV 25 Patriots at Jets

Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty

The New Englands Patriots are doing their part to help in their local community.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker called on Jonathan Kraft, team president, to help with the current PPE shortage that is going on in the Boston area. The Patriots answered the call.

The Patriots retrofitted their team plane to international travel standards and made a trip to Shenzhen, China to acquire up to 1.2 million masks. It was supposed to be 1.7 million, but the plane reached its capacity. But to circumvent travel restrictions and prevent the spread of COVID-19, the crew was not allowed to leave the plane once they landed in China. The masks were brought and loaded directly onto the plane with little person to person interaction.

“I’ve never seen so much red tape in so many ways and obstacles that we had to overcome,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the Wall Street Journal. “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.”

I’m glad Kraft notices that as a very wealthy man, he bears the responsibility to help out and give back to the very people that contributed to his great fortune. It’s not a concept that registers with a whole lot of rich and wealthy folks.

Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts made sure to give a “huge thanks to the Krafts and several dedicated partners for making this happen” in a tweet Thursday morning.

The Kraft family paid $2 million, about half the cost, to acquire the masks, according to the newspaper and the remainder of the masks that could not fit are set to be picked up and delivered on another date as a separate order.