Last April, as the pandemic grew more serious, Andy Wu and Angela Huang heard about the increasing COVID-19 cases in Michigan on the news.
Andy and Angela are Amway Independent Business Owners (IBOs) who live in California – more than 2,400 miles from Michigan – but their first thought was for the well-being of Amway employees based in Ada, Michigan.
“We immediately grew concerned about the safety of Amway employees and their families if they got sick and had to go to the hospital,” Angela said.
Taking action
She was so worried that she even dreamt about it one night. The next morning, she contacted Danielle Deng in Amway North America Leader Growth Solutions. Danielle informed her that nurses at hospitals in Michigan urgently needed more personal protection equipment (PPE), specifically face masks, which at that time were scarce.
With that knowledge, Andy and Angela joined the throngs of people becoming Everyday Heroes in the face of the global health crisis. From sacrificing time with their families to volunteering extra hours to those in need, these Everyday Heroes gave of themselves to serve and bring joy to others during trying times and Amway is recognizing their efforts.
Sending masks to Michigan
“When Andy and I told our team of 20 IBOs about our idea to donate face masks, they were immediately on board with the plan,” Angela said.
The group gathered extra masks from their individual households, eventually collecting 2,500 of them. They shared the shipping cost and had them delivered overnight to Grand Rapids so the health care workers could receive them as soon as possible.
With the help of employees in ANA Leader Growth Solutions, the masks were delivered to critical medical staff at several health care organizations in West Michigan.
Wanting to help
“Even though we knew this donation was small compared to the huge demand for PPE, we wanted to do our part to help Amway families and the Ada community,” Angela said. “We wanted to contribute and help the hardworking health care workers during this pandemic.”
Get inspired
You can read more great stories about our IBOs, philanthropic partners and employees who lead with their hearts and go above and beyond during this global health crisis at Amway Connections.
