By Gary Barragan
Life as we all know it has completely changed… the way we greet each other, the way we shop,
the way we hold meetings. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone on earth in one way or the other. Medical personal are now the front line soldiers while we are losing loved ones and businesses are shutting their doors, sometimes permanently. As an owner of a photography studio myself, I’ve felt the same pressures having to close down shop until further notice.
However, one thing I did not want to do is to just sit idle until all those blows over. So I did some
soul searching on how I could start to help out where I could with our community. As the CDC
announced recommendations for everyone to start wearing cloth masks while in public I noticed quite a few people posting about needing some. I then put out a call on my social media in search of people who were creating masks and that’s when I was introduced to Mia Mercer and her GOTG initiative. After looking over her IG I was instantly impressed with her drive and goals. She had a mission statement, she was creating a sustainable product in the time of need and all proceeds were going to the front line workers and organizations. I briefly spoke with and we formulated a game plan to source more scrubs. I was able to work something out with Cardinal Scrub and Uniforms to purchase 8 of the largest men’s scrub pants they had in the store providing a plentiful amount of material for Mia and her team. Since then I’ve seen GOTG gain more traction in their mission while being highlighted on local news channel WLKY. As of the time of this article GOTG has created more than 600 masks freeing up medical grade resources that the medical front line desperately needs. Furthermore, Guardian on the Go has also donated $5,146 to multiple organizations such as Kentucky Nurses Association, USA UNHCR, WHO Covid-19 Response Fund and UNICEF. A rather commendable effort. It’s exciting to see our younger generations take the reins of a bad situation then go above and beyond to ensure we can get through this together through a dynamic initiative such as GOTG. Thank you Mia for your efforts!