Powers-Kettler has served as a nurse for 40 years and she has lived in Eden Prairie for 30 years. She was inspired to help with the effort against COVID-19 when she found out that her daughter would be putting in the hours for her residency in an emergency room in an area that has high rates of infection. When asked about her daughter, Powers-Kettler said to SWNewsMedia.com:
“She’s a lot braver than I am. I felt like as her mother I needed to show her I was not just going to sit around and do nothing.”
Information obtained from the Minnesota Department of Health helped Powers-Kettler decide on the best way to help the community. She worked at senior housing as a director so she knows how important it is for the workers there to have access to high-quality masks.
Together with Fire Chief Scott Gerber, they gave themselves the goal of collecting 418 face masks, of which 300 were provided by the al-Mahmood Foundation and were personally delivered to seven senior living houses across the city. Additionally, 2,800 cloth masks were donated to the Fire Department by the public and they will be going statewide.
Such drives, and the milestones they hit, are often publicized through banner printing.