ST. LOUIS — Clergy leaders will be distributing more than 125,000 masks to churches across the St. Louis region that plan to reopen in June.
Mask distribution for churches in the city of St. Louis will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at Lively Stone Church of God on 4015 St. Louis Ave. Mask distribution for St. Louis County churches will be held Thursday and Friday at 7823 Racine Dr. in Pagedale.
The distributions are from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and will be led by the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, the Baptist Minister's Union and the 24:1 Clergy Coalition.
"Even through many churches leaders continue to express concerns that there has not been enough testing and resources provided to black communities, in particular, they feel that members going back to places of worship need to be protected in some form," a press release from the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition said.
The masks were provided by Gov. Mike Parson, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson at the request of the clergy.
“Our clergy leadership have, and will continue to, advocate for more testing, testing sites at churches, additional resources at our community health facilities, and an aggressive commitment by government to address the chronic health disparities in black communities," said the Rev. Darryl Gray, who is a member of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition and organizer for the mask distribution.
Gray also said the clergy wants to be part of the discussion of how to use $18 million in HUD funding given to the Missouri Governor's Office to combat the coronavirus.
"The virus may leave at some point, but the health of black people will not get any better without a real plan from Government to address it,” he said.
OTHER LOCAL STORIES
