Written by Angela Kjellberg, Marketing Coordinator

​The L.E. Phillips Career Development Center (CDC) has been in the Chippewa Valley for over 60 years, providing vocational services, employment opportunities, and community outreach services for individuals with disabilities and disadvantages. In March 2020, we converted a portion of our upholstery department into mask making to combat slowing the spread of COVID-19. Our goal at that time was to make and distribute 40,000 masks to our community members.  CDC appreciates the Eau Claire Community Foundation as well as all of the wonderful donations we have received in response to our production of face masks for distribution throughout the Chippewa Valley.  Some of our employees were not able to be at CDC during the Safer At Home order, but wanted to work. Shown above are employees working from home to package single masks. We embraced moving our organization forward throughout the pandemic by connecting with our employees while they were safe at home.  Mid-September 2020, we donated over 54,000 masks throughout the Chippewa Valley to area businesses and individual community members. Many support CDC, and it feels great to “give back” to our community when needed. Allowing us to work together to make a difference during these challenging times.  We will continue to be a resource for our community in combating slowing the spread of COVID-19.  By the end of 2020 we anticipate that we will have made and distributed over 75,000 – 100,000 masks.  Thank you to everyone for the positive response, your support and investment in our organization is incredible!