NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Manhattan woman is on a mission to supply specialized equipment to people and organizations that really need it during the pandemic.
And she's doing it with her own money.
Rhonda Roland Shearer is an artist by trade and two decades ago she took a $1 million loan to buy protective equipment for workers cleaning up after 9/11 and then fundraised to pay it back.
Now, she's at it again, this time taking out an $800,000 loan to buy personal protective equipment for people who need it amid the pandemic.
“It’s going to be over 16.5 million items," she told WCBS 880 reporter Mike Sugerman. “I got a call from a major hospital not long ago. They didn’t have any crutches in their emergency room. There’s a shortage. So these things aren’t always reported in the news, as health care workers continue struggle not only to get supply but to go into their own pocket.”
She launched the nonprofit Cut Red Tape 4 Heroes and that’s exactly what it does — no questions asked.
Volunteers, including Robert Ripps, help get the much needed supplies where they need to be.
Recently, he delivered masks and hand sanitizer to NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in Queens and Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.
“I feel good about it," Ripps said. "You can’t always make a difference, but a lot of times you can.”
Money is already coming in to pay Shearer back, with a GoFundMe raising more than $500,000, and she’s not worried.
“I'm cutting red tape for the heroes. I'm really just happy to serve in some way cause I know there are all these ways I can’t do it," she said. "I can’t be a nurse or a doctor. I would faint. I don’t know how they do it. They are willing to lay down their life for me, for you, even for people they don’t like.”
People like Joann Gull, chief nursing officer at Elmhurst Hospital, are grateful.
“She’s very organized with a complex operation and she is very passionate about what she does," Gull said.
And because she's Multiplying Good, Shearer is a Jefferson Award winner and a WCBS 880 Difference Maker.
Click here to nominate a Difference Maker you know for a Jefferson Award.