WNC Mask Bloc: AGIdealist Microgrant Grantee
The WNC Mask Bloc shares how the A Great Idealist Microgrant enables them to start Western North Carolina's first air purifier lending library. Plus, get insights on mutual aid, clean air access, and community care.
Based in Western North Carolina, the WNC Mask Bloc is a disabled- and queer-led grassroots mutual aid group providing free high-quality respirators, rapid COVID tests, and accessible educational materials across Western North Carolina.
In 2025, the group was selected as one of ten recipients of the A Great Idealist Microgrant, expanding their work to include an air purifier lending program. This interview is with Z, a member of the Mask Bloc.
Could you introduce who you are and what inspired the formation of the WNC Mask Bloc?
I’m with the WNC Mask Bloc. We're based out of Asheville in North Carolina. I've been a part of the group for about a year and a half now. Our mission is providing community access to tools to prevent and suppress the transmission of COVID-19 and other airborne illnesses. We largely focus on high-quality respirators like KN95s and N95s, rapid COVID tests, and education in the form of accessible zines. We're excited to add in air purifiers with this grant!
What kind of gap were you trying to fill in community?
To my knowledge, there are no reliable avenues to get those resources for free in the quantities people actually need them. You might be able to go to the health department and get a COVID test, but the need is a lot higher.
For folks who don't already know about mask blocs: why clean air? What's so good about fresh, clean air?
Our focus is around airborne viruses, but obviously clean air is important for a lot of other reasons: there's also pollutants, folks with allergies or asthma.
Research shows COVID-19 spreads through aerosol particles rather than droplets. This means people can be exposed even if someone is no longer in the space, especially at gatherings with dozens or hundreds of people in a small space.
Cleaner air decreases the risk of catching airborne viruses. This is important for everyone. A lot of people don't consider it an accessibility need unless you're already immunocompromised, but anyone is susceptible. In Buncombe County, we're up to 7 confirmed cases of measles, which is also airborne, and that's not great. It's not just COVID.
Why did you decide to focus this microgrant on air purifier acquisition, specifically?
There's a big upfront cost with air purifiers, which creates a barrier for individuals or groups to invest in high-quality air units. If the mask bloc takes on the upfront cost, it can be shared and have a much bigger impact. We’re seeing that with the Clean Air Club, where their air purifiers go out to hundreds of events a year.
What barriers currently exist for event organizers who want to have clean or cleaner air at gatherings?
The biggest one is financial. Some strategies are free, like hosting outdoors or opening windows for cross-ventilation. Ideally you'd have multiple layers. Air purifiers or masks can get expensive, especially for larger gatherings where units need to be appropriately rated for the space. The community groups we're trying to support often have very limited resources. Covering upfront costs allows us to support many different events.
How do you imagine the air purifier lending program changing the experience of local events?
There's already a need. When event organizers reach out for masks, they often ask if we have air purifiers. Having more events with cleaner air opens opportunities for conversations around accessibility and measures like offering masks or setting out information.
I hope we support cleaner air while encouraging organizers to think more broadly about accessibility at their events. When organizers make an effort, it helps people feel more comfortable expressing their access needs. I'm hoping it normalizes conversations and accessibility information about events.
What do you think about clean air in settings like schools or hospitals?
The situation in schools is really upsetting. Kids have so little autonomy over what they're being exposed to. Long COVID is now the leading chronic illness for kids in the US. It was previously asthma.
This lending program focuses on community and one-off events so that we can support more groups, but it’s definitely a need in other spaces.
What is your hope for how this project grows or influences perception or community culture around clean air in our region?
That it normalizes cleaner air as something people think about. That there are more masks-required spaces or events in our area. I’m hoping that it encourages people to think about accessibility more broadly. There are pockets where it's not weird to see someone wearing a mask, but there are also areas where people are harassed or worse.
In North Carolina, there is a mask ban that increases the severity of other charges and raises penalties for protesting if you are wearing a mask. That came as a backlash to pro-Palestine protests where people were wearing masks. Because it is criminalized to wear a mask in this state, we have to see it as a political issue.
What would it look like if clean air became normalized, or people realized that clean air is a human right here?
Bare minimum, people deserve to be able to access public spaces safely. I would love to see day-to-day spaces have cleaner air, supported with air purifiers and masking—schools, workplaces, grocery stores, medical facilities. It is wild to go to the doctor, see people visibly sick, and no one's wearing a mask.
A lot of that relies on education. In the first couple years of the pandemic, there was a more communal effort around cleaner air. As the years go by, we’ve learned COVID and long COVID are more dangerous than we initially thought.
My ideal scenario is people wearing masks around others and communicating their risks so others can make informed decisions.
Could you paint me a picture of an event using layered prevention?
In an ideal scenario, an event would have very ample air purifiers appropriately sized for the space. I would love to see more masks-required events with KN95s or N95s provided to attendees for free, alongside information about why. Things like free COVID tests ahead of time, hosting outdoors when possible, and increasing ventilation.
One thing I've seen a group in the Triangle area do is they also have contact tracing. If someone tests positive later, there’s a way to disseminate that information. It’s the “Swiss cheese” model where multiple layers reduce risk.
I was at an event where rapid testing ahead of time identified someone who had COVID. At least half of COVID spread starts from people without symptoms, so people don’t necessarily know they’re sick.
What do you think people misunderstand about clean air as an access need?
There's a lot of misunderstanding about how COVID and other airborne viruses spread. Early messaging about six feet of distance stuck in people’s minds. People misunderstand the risks of COVID and Long COVID. It affects your blood vessels and causes organ deterioration in your bodily systems. Even if you’re healthy right now, there is still a risk.
I also want to really emphasize that even if you're not healthy to begin with, if you're already disabled or immunocompromised: you're very important, too.
A lot of people think it only affects immunocompromised people. But most people have had multiple active COVID infections at this point and have residual immune damage from it. You just might not know it yet, or it might not yet be manifesting in really obvious ways. Clean air is really an access need for everyone.
Vaccines are good. You should get them if you're able to. The COVID vaccine helps prevent really severe cases of COVID. But studies show that even asymptomatic cases of COVID can lead to long COVID.
There's also a misunderstanding that COVID is an individual responsibility: that vulnerable people should just stay home. That’s a really awful way to think about other people. It is a collective responsibility to meet each other’s access needs. We have it in us to some degree. It's the cultural norm to take additional precautions in some instances, like when visiting a newborn baby. We could extend that care so that nobody must choose between isolation or participation in society.
Can you share a moment in the work that you've been doing with the mask bloc that felt really affirming for why this work matters?
A lot of moments are rooted in connection. There have been a number of times where we've been out tabling and I meet someone who is positively overwhelmed that we exist. They say, “I've never met another person who masks in real life!” It’s really exciting to see the joy in someone's eyes.
We sent resources to the Triangle (NC) during the flood and recently passed along masks for the Week of Action in Minneapolis. That connection is what really affirms it for me.
So, there's the WNC mask bloc, but there are also mask blocs all over the place. What has been being in relationship to those other mask blocs been like, especially as your work has grown?
There's built-in solidarity. Many of these mask blocs are just a handful of people distributing a lot of resources. We're becoming a medium-sized mask bloc. As we’ve grown, it’s been great how supportive more established mask blocs were of our work.
Sometimes there are auctions for really huge quantities of masks—full pallets of them. With some regularity, several blocs will bid together and share them. If one mask bloc is more resourced, they might take on more of the financial burden. There’s a big, interconnected network of mask blocs.
In this timeline of immediate post-Helene to now and onward, what role do safer gatherings play in community resilience or recovery?
As a region, we have a lot of collective trauma from Helene. After the river flooded, so much dust left was getting kicked up. I live within a mile of the river, and just being outside my house was irritating my respiratory system, where I developed a chronic cough. My doctor told me a lot of people were experiencing chronic sore throats and respiratory issues.
For people navigating disasters, acute air quality issues add to the trauma. We can't organize and rebuild as effectively if we're all constantly sick. Safer gatherings help us collectively stay as healthy as we can so that we have the capacity to work towards the community we want to see.
There've been several instances where we've been the most well-resourced group to provide masks in a disaster situation. In early 2025, so many trees downed during Helene became fodder for a ton of wildfires. We distributed a lot of masks then because people couldn’t breathe outside. A lot of our tools apply to many scenarios.
How would you describe the mask bloc’s approach to disability justice and community care?
Our focus is largely on COVID transmission and tools, but disability justice includes cross-movement organizing. Many of our bloc members are disabled. We’ve distributed mobility aids and cooked meals for homebound folks. We are led by disabled folks and in community with disabled folks. No one is disposable. Our society and government define worth by productivity. I hate that and think it’s super icky. Being in disabled community helps me move through the world differently.
How has being part of this collective shaped the way you think about community care?
This is the first time that I've been in a majority disabled space, which has been very healing. It’s normalized that we all have different access needs and that we can meet them collectively. Being part of the WNC Mask Bloc has shown me we can meet each other’s needs, even when access needs conflict.
We went to the Arboretum a few weeks ago, and it was just so beautiful that we were taking little sit-rest breaks however often anyone needed them. It was really refreshing that this thing that might have felt out of reach to do with a group is actually possible. We can just care about the group as a whole and do what we need to do. And we got to see some of the cool troll sculptures!
The WNC Mask Bloc’s commitment to collective care resonates deeply with us. By autonomously organizing access to tools like PPE and tests, they ensure people can more safely and fully participate in community life. This refuses a ‘back-to-normal’ that insists disabled people are disposable.
We’re grateful for the care they show up with in WNC and are so excited to see how the air purifier lending program grows. The WNC Mask Bloc saw a need in their community and chose to take action by building something practical and collaborative. They share what they have and make it easy for other people to participate. That’s how great change begins!
At A Great Idea, we know that change happens when people act in their values and are grounded in their community. If you’re an idealist working on something that could make your community more inclusive or more just, we’d love to explore your great idea with you. Learn more about how we support community-led change!
