May 12, 2020 – In challenging times, the members of the Fort Meade Alliance have always pulled together to support Fort Meade and the surrounding region. Though the challenge we face now rests on a global scale, the response of FMA members to COVID-19 is no different. As the pandemic has evolved, the FMA and its members have taken steps to combat the needs of people in this region and across the globe.
FMA members from large government contractors to educational institutions to small businesses have focused their efforts on supporting communities around the world in this time of need.
In a time when PPE and medical supplies are hard to find, FMA members have found ways to fight the shortages. On behalf of our members, the Fort Meade Alliance and the FMA Foundation have purchased much needed PPE for first responders at Fort George G. Meade.
As the ability to purchase PPE has become increasingly difficult, individuals have put their skills to work creating masks and face shields. Nandkumar Singh, a retired veteran and master tailor employed by IntelliGenesis created 200 personalized masks for company employees and family members, as well as an additional 150 for the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in Charlotte, MD and 100 masks for the Baltimore based non-profit Healthcare for the Homeless.
Members of Northrop Grumman’s Fabrication Laboratories have been engineering face shields for healthcare professionals, producing over 5,000 masks for distribution in Arizona, California and Virginia. In March, ASRC Federal donated more than 500 bottles of hand sanitizer to the Baltimore City Police force. Anne Arundel Community College faculty and students have used their skills to 3D print plastic respirator masks to supply to local healthcare workers. In addition, AACC has donated medical supplies, including hand sanitizer, face masks, gloves and ventilators to local medical centers.
Lockheed Martin donated 600 pairs of gloves and 90 high-quality smocks to the childcare centers on Fort George G. Meade. At its locations throughout the United States, Lockheed Martin has also worked with its food service providers to repurpose meals typically served to staff who are now working from home. In Maryland, the company partnered with Aramark to make 9,850 box lunches for various organizations in the region, including Suburban Hospital, Bethesda Cares, the National Center for Children and Families and the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless.
FMA members such as COPT, Bridges Consulting and Tower Federal Credit Union have also focused their efforts on providing meals to those in need. COPT created a virtual food drive for the Maryland Food Bank in partnership with Make Your Day, and Bridges Consulting has been donating meals to health care workers at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Tower Federal Credit Union’s TowerCares Foundation has donated a total of $75,000 to the Maryland Food Bank, the Capital Area Food Bank and the Anne Arundel County Food Bank, in addition to donating more than 500 N95 masks to Hospice of the Chesapeake and the Laurel Regional Hospital Center.
Other FMA members have leveraged their specialty field to provide unique types of support. As more and more companies transitioned to telework, the Cyber Security Association of Maryland created the Cyber SWAT Team, offering free cyber defense advice to small- and mid-sized companies in Maryland now facing new cyber threats. National Instruments recently donated ThinkPad laptops to the Anne Arundel County Public School system, ensuring that 13 families in the Meade region have access to online learning platforms.
We thank FMA members – both those named above and those whose stories we have not yet heard – for their support in fighting this global crisis. If you are looking for a way to get involved, check out the Offers, Donations & Volunteer Resources section of the Maryland Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information for Business website.
