Sperry Sails switches gears to work from home, keep others protected

Apr 19, 2020

MARION — For 1,500 essential workers in Marion and beyond, Sperry Sails has got them covered. 

Literally.

With new cloth masks that the sail company is making and donating to others who must continue work in public to make sure that they are as protected as possible. 

When Sperry Sails closed the doors to its shop, employee Annabel Armstrong had the mask idea. President Ben Sperry liked the idea, and put his crew of seven workers, who would normally be making sails and canvas accessories for boats, to work on the mask idea. 

Sperry said that although he cannot make medical grade sterile masks,he has been donating the face coverings to healthcare facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, local shops and manufacturers that are still open. 

The company kicked off its effort on April 1, with a goal to make 1,000 masks in a week. They were able to meet that goal, and are on track to complete a larger goal to manufacture 10,000 masks by the end of May. 

“Many employees now considered essential did not sign up for such a potentially dangerous job, and we are hopeful that our face masks may help in our fight against this virus,” Sperry Sails wrote on its website.  

Sperry said right now would usually be the company’s busiest time, and that he has a ton of orders for sails he put on hold. But, he was also pretty hampered by the social distancing measures. 

“Sails are really something that we need to do from the shop. So the benefit of this is it enables us to have people work from home and we can pay people throughout this fiasco,” Sperry said. 

And some of the workers that Sperry has delivered to have “told us they are super comfortable,” Sperry said.  

Sperry said that many of the donations he has gotten to sustain the program have been from customers and friends. However, he also welcomes donations from the public. To donate, send a check by mail to Sperry Sails, 11 Marconi Lane, Marion, MA 02738, or pay with paypal at https://mailchi.mp/58d7541568c5/sperry-sails-face-mask-campaign?fbclid=IwAR1tciyXz3eue0x3n04V9qILobTWxO4XtHxlGF7uH5JZlLZOQ0lA9z2eXbo