Vernon Township hands out thousands of face masks

The early morning downpour Wednesday didn't deter Vernon Hills resident Sandy Josephsen from driving to the Vernon Township office in Buffalo Grove for masks to protect her and her family during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The township Wednesday planned to distribute more than 3,000 face masks donated by Medline Industries, a Northfield-based manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies.

Josephsen said her twin daughters, husband and grandmother would benefit greatly from the free masks. They previously had nothing more than bandannas to cover their faces.

Township Supervisor Jonathan Altenberg said the 3,000 masks are in addition to about 2,000 the township distributed last week.

"Because the village of Buffalo Grove and village of Mundelein being in our (township) and requirements for people to have masks to be in public places there, there is a real problem for finding masks in the area," he said. "With a donation from Medline we want to hand these out and stop the spread of COVID-19."

Masks were made available to all residents of the township, which includes portions of Buffalo Grove, Indian Creek, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Mettawa, Mundelein, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills and Lake Forest.