BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Ford Motor Company handed out thousands of masks to front-line workers Friday morning.

Over 500,000 masks were given at the plant.

These donations will be given to 13 volunteer fire departments and the Food Pantry of Western New York. This is actually the second time ford is donating masks.

They estimate up to one million have been donated since the start of the pandemic.

Ford started making its own personal protective equipment and has continued to do so over the last year.

Members from those volunteer groups say masks are crucial to keeping their programs running, and they use more supplies than you might think.

Josh Preshoff of the Hamburg Volunteer Fire Department said, “When we get to a call, not every person we interact with is gonna have a mask when we get there, we gotta make sure we’re protected before we get there, while we’re there, and after too.”

Also, the representative from the Food Bank of Western New York says with all the money they saved on PPE they can now put this towards more food and items for those in need.

The food bank and the Orchard Park Volunteer Fire Department say they’ve been unusually busy over the last year, so the donations help them out a lot.