Congressman Fred Upton, Cornerstone Alliance, and the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber have teamed up to salute southwest Michigan companies that have helped during the COVID-19 pandemic by producing personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies. A gathering was held at Dwight P. Mitchell City Center Park in Benton Harbor on Friday for around a dozen organizations to be honored with certificates. Upton told WSJM News they rose to the occasion to help ensure people have the safety supplies they need.
“No one ever thought that when you go to the grocery store you’d have to have a Plexiglas shield between you and the clerk,” Upton said. “No one ever thought you’d have to have all of this hand sanitizer to wipe everything down, whether you go to a retail store or anything else.”
Upton said whether it’s face shields, gloves, or hand sanitizer, southwest Michigan businesses have shown they have the ability and heart to help.
“Because of what’s happening today, everybody’s got to step up, and that’s the mask order, that’s everything else we’re trying to do to make sure that families, workers, seniors are all protected.”
Among the companies honored were Edgewater Automation, which has made PPE and thermometers; Whirlpool, which has shipped a large amount of PPE into the community for hospital use; Eagle Technologies, which has made PPE and partitions; Competitive Edge, which has made masks; and Iron Shoe Distillery and Journeyman Distillery, which have both made hand sanitizer. Upton said the efforts of private enterprise to help the nation through the pandemic crisis remind him of what businesses did in World War II.
