Willie Nelson signs, auctions off face masks gifted to him so that more PPE can be made
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When a fan tried to gift hand-made protective face masks to Willie Nelson and his wife, the famed singer found a way to turn the gesture into a charitable endeavor to help even more people.
Houston, Texas residents Tanya Boike and Monica Cabazos have been making and distributing face masks amid the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to do their part for their local community. Being fans of Nelson, the duo decided to send him a pair of masks, but they quickly got word from his grandaughter, Noelle Ward, that the musician had a different idea.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"[Noelle] texted me a few minutes later and said ‘pops would rather sign these and have them auction them off. That way you can get more materials and keep making these masks for free.’ I just lost it. That’s not what I had made them for," Boike told KTRK.
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Willie Nelson is auctioning off signed face masks to raise money to help produce more. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
The masks ended up on the CharityAuctionsToday website complete with photo proof of Nelson signing each one. As of this writing, the auction has already raised more than $3,500 that will reportedly go toward helping Boike and Cabazos produce more masks. Prior to the auction, their small effort resulted in them producing and giving out more than 500 masks to people in need.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They told the outlet that they were inspired by seeing how the community rallied when Hurricane Harvey devastated the area in 2017.
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"I remembered about us as a community during Harvey and the flooding we had. I said, everybody was helping each other," Cabazos said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Willie Nelson took gifted face masks and turned them into a charitable endeavor. (The Associated Press)
Representatives for Nelson had no comment when reached by Fox News.
His granddaughter, however, told KTRK that the move to sign and auction the masks is just how he thinks.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Well, that’s him. That’s who he is. That’s him every day. He’s just relaxed. He’s just giving. He’s just got a great smile, and he’s just the best," Ward told KTRK.