SPARKS, Nev., August 17, 2020 – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security contractor owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen and headquartered in Reno-Sparks, Nevada, is funding an initial program for rapid COVID testing of Washoe County School District employees including teachers, a capability seen as essential to the safe reopening of schools.
“Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our employees, their families and our community,” said SNC President Eren Ozmen. “We want to make sure children and their teachers and staff can return to school safely. This is critical to families, to workers and to the broader economy.”
SNC’s contribution of $130K will provide for free COVID-19 testing for the first 833 WCSD employees who show symptoms, and allow for purchase of a testing machine needed to turn results around in an average of 30 hours.
“We are so thankful for this contribution, which will help to further the district’s commitment to a safe environment for our staff and students as we reopen our schools,” said WCSD Superintendent Dr. Kristen McNeill. “Sierra Nevada Corporation has a long established history of contributing to community needs and this is a testament to their support of our region and community.”
The WCSD has partnered with Renown Health and the Washoe County Health Department to track the program’s results and data to determine trends, and to create a predictive model. Based on data, ease of testing and communication with physicians, the school district will make adjustments to rollout testing for all employees who show symptoms.
SNC’s donation extends the company’s ongoing support of COVID relief efforts, and veterans and healthcare workers in local communities. In April the northern Nevada-based advanced manufacturing company launched the SNC COVID Recovery Campaign to aid global relief efforts, and support military personnel and SNC employees facing hardships because of the global pandemic, and used laser cutters to produce and donate over 1,800 “ear savers” to Reno-Sparks hospitals and healthcare facilities.
For more information about SNC’s COVID-19 relief efforts, visit www.SNCorp.com.
About Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)
Owned by Chairwoman and President Eren Ozmen and CEO Fatih Ozmen, SNC is a trusted leader in solving the world’s toughest challenges through best-of-breed, open architecture engineering in Space Systems, Commercial Solutions, and National Security and Defense. SNC is recognized among The Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Space, as a Tier One Superior Supplier for the U.S. Air Force and is the only aerospace and defense firm selected as a 2020 US Best Managed Company. For nearly 60 years, SNC has delivered state-of-the-art civil, military and commercial solutions including more than 4,000 space systems, subsystems and components to customers worldwide, and participation in more than 450 missions to space, including to Mars.
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