WCU Stories      July 1, 2020

Western Carolina University faculty and staff soon will be receiving bags of personal protective items that are designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus as part of the institution’s “Catamounts Care” campaign.

“Catamounts Care” is an initiative designed to remind members of the campus community of the shared responsibility needed to help faculty, staff and students stay healthy moving toward the 2020 fall semester.

Volunteers from the Division of Administration and Finance and the Office of University Communications and Marketing recently spent days recently assembling more than 2,000 bags, each containing six WCU-branded reusable cloth masks, a large container of sanitizing wipes, a refillable 8-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer, one branded thermometer and a set of “Catamounts Care” guidelines.

The “Catamounts Care” bags will be distributed to staff and faculty by various campus building coordinators in early July, with plans to assemble and distribute additional bags of personal protective equipment to students as they begin rolling into campus prior to the scheduled opening of the fall semester.

The wearing of face coverings in public settings, proper hand-washing or use of hand sanitizers, and social distancing are important steps that members of the campus community must take to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, said WCU Chancellor Kelli R. Brown. She and her husband, Dennis, joined the volunteers in assembling the bags of protective items one afternoon.

“Collective acceptance of our shared responsibility for actions that affect our health and the health of others will be the most effective strategy in the challenging months ahead,” Brown said. “We know that Catamounts do care, and we have developed standards to encourage everyone to put the well-being of themselves and others top of mind.”