OTTAWA -- For charities, purchasing masks or other personal protective equipment is a challenge. It also takes away from other resources so, when a business pulls up with a donation of thousands of masks, they’re a welcome gift.

Cynthia Kitson knows first-hand how important wearing masks can be while caring for others. She’s a nurse practitioner at the Ottawa Mission’s Primary Care Medical Clinic.

“We see so many patients everyday, and to have a supply on hand makes us feel very confident that we’re practicing safe and staying safe,” she says.

The clinic sees patients every day for primary care and specialty health services.

On Tuesday, they received 12,000 masks from Ottawa-based Dymon Storage.

“With the number of cases of COVID-19 being more and more acute, we felt it was very, very important to make a contribution of face masks to the Ottawa Mission and to many other deserving community groups and charitable organizations in the city of Ottawa,” said Dymon's Senior Vice President Steve Creighton.

Dymon is donating more than one million masks to charities in Ottawa and across the GTA.

“We’re doing this because philanthropy is very important to the Dymon group,” Creighton added.

A donation of this size means that the Ottawa Mission can focus their resources elsewhere.

“Quality masks are always something in demand. It’s a huge relief to us to have a donation like this. We can carry on our operations through the next few months without having to worry about the supply of masks,” said Ottawa Mission CEO Peter Tilley. “It’s just so important that we are well protected and feel safe; and, these masks feel really, really excellent.”

Dymon had originally planned to donate 100,000 masks to charities and organizations in Ottawa but Creighton says, “The demand has been unbelievable, and we’ve increased that as well.”

If you’re a charity or non-profit organization that requires masks, you can contact Dymon to request a donation.

If you’d like to donate to the Ottawa mission, click here.