Two weeks ago, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz asked residents throughout the state to help fight the shortage of masks by asking them to make cloth masks from their homes and coordinated a statewide drop-off last Saturday (April 25) at their local fire departments.

Wright County did its part, according to Eric Bullen, the fire chief of the Albertville Fire Department and president of the Wright County Fire Chiefs Association.

Bullen said that over the last week, he has received count numbers from 10 of Wright County’s fire departments and they came through with big numbers.

“From the 10 departments that reported numbers back to me, we collected almost 3,000 masks,” Bullen said. “The Buffalo Fire Department collected the most by a department at 1,000.”

When Governor Walz made his challenge to residents to help fill this need, the state stepped up. The masks were distributed to congregate care facilities for their residents to wear.