Ocean State Job Lot donates PPE to police and firefighters

Aug 13, 2020

Personal protective equipment hasn’t been the easiest thing to come by during the pandemic, but the local Ocean State Job Lot store helped out Dartmouth’s first responders with a large donation last week.

On Aug. 6, the Dartmouth police and fire departments were given more than $11,000 worth of gear including masks, face shields, temperature gauges, and sanitizer.

“It was definitely a sizable donation,” Dartmouth Police Detective Kyle Costa said. “This was very well needed and well received.”

Costa added that the police department was more than happy to have additional PPE heading into the fall, saying that the DPD would “rather be over prepared than under prepared” for any potential surges of coronavirus cases. 

“This virus definitely isn’t going away any time soon and we’re in this for the long haul,” he said. “What an awesome way for this store to show its support for our community.”

This is not the first time the retailer has donated PPE to the town’s first responders. 

Store Leader Nick Brunette said the Route 6 store sent out some equipment early on in the pandemic, but on a much smaller scale.

“At that point it was really whatever we could get our hands on to get them going,” he said. “This last donation will definitely keep them going for a while.”

According to Brunette, the Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation is currently in the process of distributing more than $1.5 million worth of PPE to police and fire departments in the 142 communities across the Northeast.

He added that much of the equipment was sourced out over the course of the past few months, noting that there were some difficulties amid frequent shortages of things like hand sanitizer.

“Now we’re at a point where we can donate,” Brunette said. “And we’re going to continue to help as long as we can.”