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Stanly County Commissioner Tommy Jordan has been a busy man during the coronavirus pandemic, helping out on multiple fronts to make sure the people of Stanly County are safe and have proper materials.

In mid-March he helped organize a network of women in the county who have been making masks for essential workers on the frontlines during the coronavirus pandemic. As of Friday, the group has produced roughly 1,800 masks and delivered around 1,000. The group has also started producing masks for children.

The group, which Jordan has playfully referred to as the “Stanly County Masked Avengers,” recently received a $3,000 grant from the Stanly Community Grant Fund Team. The grant covers the expenses for putting the masks together. He estimates the group can produce around 1,500 masks with the grant.

But Jordan is also helping to produce and distribute another valuable commodity for the county: hand sanitizer.

Using the facilities of Medical Pharmacy, owned by state representative Wayne Sasser (R-Stanly), Jordan and Sasser have been making and distributing the sanitizer for the last month. They have already hand sanitizer to the Stanly County Health Department and the school system. Another group donated 55 gallons to the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office.

Jordan’s singular focus to do all he can to help the people in Stanly has impressed Sasser.

“Tommy is just one of these individuals that, when he does something, he’s all in,” Sasser said, adding that the commissioner has “an enormous worth ethic.”

The men recently received an unexpected windfall from a Corning plant in Midland. Jordan spoke with his friend Darrell Sanders, who works at the plant, about his efforts delivering sanitizer to people in Stanly. His friend then talked to his boss, plant manager Don Hefner, who agreed to donate a 55-gallon barrel of already-made hand sanitizer.

When they went to pick up the supplies Friday afternoon, as a safety precaution, Sasser said he and Jordan had to have their temperatures taken and wear masks while at the plant.

“Our most sincere thanks goes out to Don Hefner and the wonderful people at Corning, and to Darrell for making the phone call that made it all possible,” Jordan said. “Sometimes a gesture that seems so small can have amazing results.”

He and Sasser have recently started bringing the bottles of hand sanitizer to the Stanly County Family YMCA for people to then pick up as needed.

“George and his staff at the YMCA are working with us to get the sanitizer out to families, and even making some deliveries to folks that don’t have the ability to get out to get face masks or sanitizer,” Jordan said.

“The YMCA is happy to help these wonderful people help the community,” Crooker said. “By using our facility for pickup and making deliveries, we hope to help make our county healthier.”

Jordan and Sasser plan to coordinate with the county’s emergency services and reserve a portion of the Corning donation if the county thinks that first responders will need it.

“You assume that everything is available and the reality is in this pandemic… there’s a shortage of everything,” Sasser said, including bottles, which they have had to order off Amazon.

Though the pandemic has created chaos, “it has created a lot of opportunity for the community to come together, the county to come together and the region to come together,” Sasser said.