Air Tractor Donates More than 1600 Masks

Air Tractor has made good use of its time during the COVID-19 crisis; the president, Jim Hirsch said they decided to give back to the community by producing and donating more than 1600 masks to the Olney ISD schools and Olney Hamilton Hospital.

“Supporting our hospital and supporting our schools, are especially important cultural things for us at Air Tractor,” Hirsch said.

With a new community mission in mind, the brainstorming began. “When COVID first [hit] we were busy building airplanes and as the economy slowed down, we slowed down a little bit and we looked around and said, what can we do to help the community through COVID?” Hirsch asked.

Hirsch said he was aware that masks may be needed in the schools and the hospitals, so he called Olney Hamilton Hospital CEO, Mike Huff, along with a few medical professionals in Texas, and they collaborated on making masks. “We realized internally that [the masks] were something we could do in a relatively short time while still making good use of the excess capacity and manufacturing that we had,” Hirsch said.

The first donation entailed manufacturing a bulk order of masks for the Olney Hamilton Hospital staff coupled with the building of a wheelchair ramp for the CT Scan Facility.

In addition to contacting the hospital, Hirsch reached out to Olney ISD Superintendent, Dr. Greg Roach to ascertain his needs for the upcoming school year. “I called Dr. Roach and he said he thought the idea of donating masks would be great as he believed they would need masks this fall. So, we thought that we could put together a team to design and implement a manufacturing line. Lynn Colvin and Becky Autry stood up, took the reins and led this thing. We asked for volunteers to bring sewing machines,” Hirsch said.

Within two weeks, Hirsch said they had a half dozen sewing machines, ironing boards, cutting boards, and rolls of elastic, which was hard to find.

“We had a lot of folks come in and spend a half day away from their regular job, sewing, or cutting material, or ironing, and the next thing you know another two weeks had passed and we had 1600 masks,” Hirsch said.

Roach expressed his gratitude for the masks that Air Tractor donated, stating, “It takes a portion of what we have to do totally out of the equation. This is a part of a bigger partnership we’re trying to constantly build with the community from programming to construction.”

“I want to thank all the employees who stepped up to help out with these community projects. Supporting our community, fits right in with our employee owned business,” Hirsch concluded.