John,

 

I write today to give you an update on my activities with our team during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since mid-March, Team Bacon has been heavily involved in the community and I have been hard at work addressing the needs of our district’s families and small businesses.

 

Over the past eight weeks, Team Bacon has participated in 18 different community service projects at various food banks, charities, and healthcare centers. More than 20 volunteers took part in these efforts, and the locations were spread all over the district.

 

We were also able to coordinate the distribution of more than 150 gallons of sanitizer, produced and donated by Soldier Valley Spirits in La Vista, to first responders and the Omaha Veterans Hospital. This adds to our efforts to arrange the delivery of four portable handwashing stations to the Open Door Mission – a request they made during my tour of their facility to discover how they were coping with the pandemic. The Mission had searched high and low for these handwashing stations, but was unable to find any. We were able to connect them with the Omaha Zoo, who had some available, and they were willing to lend them to the Mission. Another major project we undertook was the donation of 10,000 surgical masks to inner-city health centers and the Douglas and Sarpy Sheriff’s Departments. I also enjoyed assisting BBQ to the Rescue deliver hot meals to hardworking healthcare workers at local hospitals. Finally, Team Bacon assisted Generation Diamond, a local center for reintegrating people following incarceration, to open a shelter and food bank to assist their clients and mitigate the issue of high recidivism in Omaha.

 

We have connected with over 200,000 Nebraskans in the past two months, offering information, resources, assistance, and hope. I am grateful to the organizations that have come together in these efforts to help those in need during this crisis, and I want to thank all who risked their health to help others. During a crisis, what matters most is how we can come together to help each other, and I am extremely proud of our community for their dedication to one another during this pandemic.

 

It is an honor to represent the great people of this district.

 

Sincerely,

 

Don Bacon