Milwaukee-Area Company Offers 1 Million Free Masks To Help Residents Comply With Proposed City Mandatory Mask Ordinance For Public Places

Milwaukee (July 7, 2020) – Rebel Converting, an area company that has given away millions of masks to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, has offered the materials to make 1 million more masks to be distributed to residents in need if the city passes a mandatory mask ordinance.

In a letter to the Milwaukee Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett, Rebel Converting owner Michael Kryshak offered to provide the materials for free for the 1 million disposable masks and help the city find volunteers to assemble them.

“We fully support Milwaukee legislation to mandate face coverings in public places,” Kryshak wrote. “We want to make sure that affordability for low-income residents is not a barrier to anyone helping stop the spread of the disease in the community and complying with the requirement.”

Kryshak previously launched the MaskUpMKE initiative, which has worked with hundreds of organizations using almost 3,000 volunteers to make and distribute nearly 3 million masks to over 550 organizations.

Kryshak asked the city to help find additional volunteers to assemble the masks and to work with other businesses and city resources to procure and distribute reusable masks “so that there will be no obstacles in Milwaukee to masking up.”

The Milwaukee Common Council is expected to vote on a proposal for a mask ordinance this week. A mask ordinance is supported by 130 restaurants, including the Milwaukee Independent Restaurant Coalition, and other businesses.

More information on the initiative to pass a Milwaukee mask requirement and the open letter from businesses in support of the mask requirement is at https://www.mandatemasksmke.com/. A new video PSA advocating a mask ordinance can be seen at https://youtu.be/Y9DkBlvFcBw.

Rebel Converting, Kryshak’s Saukville-based firm, converts giant rolls of advanced nonwoven fabrics into small rolls that fit inside standard sanitary wipe canisters.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.