The need for Personal Protective Equipment is still in high demand, especially in schools. At the beginning of quarantine, Thomas Bell was like many others – figuring out how he can help.

A business owner already, he shifted his focus to creating PPE Boss.

“We were buying and selling masks, gloves, sanitizer, a whole bunch of different stuff,” Bell said, “This is actually what was left over.”

He mentioned that, instead of returning the KN95 masks or selling them, he had an even better idea – donating them to one of the places that can use them the most.

“I know that these will help a lot of people,” Bell told Spectrum Bay News 9’s Katya Guillaume. "I need to get these things into circulation, make sure the kids are safe, make sure the staff’s safe.”

Tammy Brinker is the Chief Executive Officer for the Hernando County Education Foundation. After the donation, she said, “We’re really excited to be able to get this donation of masks because we are really in desperate need of having masks for all of our students.”

More than 10,000 masks were given to the Hernando County School District to go to anyone who may need them throughout the school year.

“We had no idea that the masks will be the number one need that we needed right now within our school district for our kids and our teachers,” Brinker said.

Now, thanks to the PPE Boss, the school district will have more than enough masks available for any child or staff member who may have forgotten theirs at home.

“I have a son as well. He’s in school,” Bell continued. "I know that feeling where maybe he doesn’t show up one time or doesn’t have a mask with him, and they maybe send him home or it’s on the teacher or the school to be able to provide it. And I didn’t want that to happen anymore. There’s no kids that’s gonna get corona on my watch.”

Brinker said it’s because of generous people like Thomas Bell, Hernando schools are able to make sure every student and staff member stays as safe as possible during the year.