As the COVID-19 pandemic causes a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), like听face masks and eye protection, in hospitals across the globe, skiers and snowboarders have found a way to help: donating their goggles to hospitals in need.听

The movement began in New York City with skier and doctor Mike Halperin, who works at the Jacobi Medical Center scanning patients鈥� hearts and lungs for the novel coronavirus.听On March 27, Halperin was thinking about the road ahead for health care workers听and the increasing need for PPE听when the lightbulb went on. He called his aunt and uncle in Steamboat Springs, Colorado,听with a simple request: send ski goggles to New York City as soon as possible.

鈥淲hen a doctor is putting a breathing tube in鈥攊ntubating鈥攖here is potential that, if you just have an eye shield and it鈥檚 not sealed, those droplets听can get into your eye,鈥� says Halperin.听鈥淚 want goggles in that situation听and want to put that face shield over the goggles.鈥� There are plenty of other medical staffers who need goggles听as well, Halperin notes, including those who are testing patients and cleaning facilities.

Halperin鈥檚 request gained momentum fast. His aunt and uncle started gathering goggles in their community and听emailing as many skiers and snowboarders as possible to spread the word. The emails turned into many replies, forwards, text messages, and phone calls.

One of the email recipients was Jon Schaefer, the owner and general manager of two ski areas in western Massachusetts, Berkshire East and Catamount. On March 12, they were the first two ski resorts听to close听in the U.S. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shaefer was immediately intrigued by the goggle project. But he knew its momentum was unsustainable.听鈥淢ike had his personal info out there: his phone and his address,鈥� says Schaefer. 鈥淎nd I thought, This guy is going to get 10,000 pairs of goggles delivered to his door.鈥�

So Schaefer and a contingent of other volunteers set up a Facebook group and a Google Sheet that detailed听which hospitals to focus on听and how to get them clean, usable goggles, conveying information like drop-off-station whereabouts, sanitization instructions, and hospital mailing addresses.

鈥淲e basically copied a Google Sheet format for deciding what parent would bring oranges to the soccer match,鈥� says Schaefer. 鈥淪omething where people can communicate in real time about fulfillment needs.鈥澨�

The Facebook group and Google Sheet were helpful, but not enough to succeed on their own. So Trevor Crist and Gregg Blanchard, both ski-industry insiders from the Vermont-based travel and booking company听Inntopia, reached out to Shaefer and offered to build a custom website for free. Right away, Shaefer and Blanchard hopped on the phone and听created . It happened so fast that Schaefer can鈥檛 even recall who even came up with the name.

The site launched on March 29 and, within 24 hours, over 1,700 pairs of goggles were shipped to hospitals in New York City, New Orleans, and beyond. At the time this article was written, the听number of donated goggles had听increased to 6,500 and is rising, thanks to a long list of individuals, ski resorts, and big brands like Anon, Julbo, Smith, and Uvex.

While ski goggles aren鈥檛 the most traditional piece of equipment found in hospitals, the broadly calls for health care workers to wear 鈥済oggles or a disposable face shield that covers the front and sides of the face.鈥� And medical professionals like Dr. Ron Gross, a trauma and acute-care surgeon at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, say these donations are adequate.

鈥淵ou know that old saying, any port in a storm? I don鈥檛 care what it is. As long as it serves a purpose, it鈥檚 needed,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd if we don鈥檛 have enough eye protection or face shields, these goggles are absolutely needed.鈥�

To donate goggles or get involved, visit .

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