I fucking hate the New England Patriots. There I said it.
But in times of adversity, it’s not uncommon for sworn enemies to set aside their differences in order to unite for a common cause. And with the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the entire globe, I gotta clap it up for Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the rest of the Kraft family for their efforts to combat this pandemic.
According to ESPN, the Patriots’ team plane is being used to fly in over a million N95 masks for health care workers in Massachusetts. After exhaustive negotiations involving Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Patriots team president Jonathan Kraft stepped in and volunteered his assistance in acquiring the masks from Shenzhen, China.
In order to do so, the Patriots plane had to be upgraded for international travel, a waiver had to be issued in order to avoid a 14-day quarantine in China—provided the crew on board did not leave the aircraft—and the Kraft family put up $2 million in order to cover half the cost of the masks.
1.7 million masks were ordered, but because only 1.2 million could fit on the plane, the rest will be delivered separately.
For all their hard work, Gov. Baker expressed his gratitude to the Kraft family Thursday morning on Twitter.
“No days off,” he tweeted. “Thanks to some serious teamwork, Massachusetts is set to receive over 1 million N95 masks for our front-line workers. Huge thanks to the Krafts and several dedicated partners for making this happen.”
If this sounds like a jaw-dropping amount of work to pull off such a feat, you wouldn’t be alone in feeling that way.
“I’ve never seen so much red tape in so many ways and obstacles that we had to overcome,” Robert Kraft said. “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.”
And if you’re wondering why in the hell the Krafts even had to do this in the first place, wellllllllllll…
Shoutout to the Krafts for doing the Lord’s work.
Be safe out there, y’all.