Maui business owner Bobby Nakamura doled out $19,000 of his own money to purchase 14,000 face masks to ensure that nurses, police, prison correctional officers and others on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic are safe on Maui.

His efforts began in March, upon hearing that personal protective equipment was scarce and being rationed at medical institutions on the Mainland and in Hawaii. His sister in California had started a crowdsource funding page to purchase masks where she lived. Nakamura, owner of Naka’s Drapery in Wailuku, wanted to do the same.

But instead of waiting for his fundraising page to take off with donations, Nakamura began ordering masks. To date, he has ordered 9,000 KN95 masks and 5,000 surgical masks and is awaiting the last of his shipments.

Noting that his 76-year-old mother, Ann Nakamura, is a retired Maui Memorial Medical Center nurse, he wanted to be sure nurses were cared for.

“That’s the last thing they should worry about,” Bobby Nakamura said, adding that they should be allowed to focus solely on patients.

He also has friends who are nurses and heard their concerns about having enough protection.

“I could hear the fear in their voices,” Nakamura recalled.

His list grew beyond nurses.

He has donated masks to the Maui Police Department, Maui Fire Department, Hale Makua’s facilities in Kahului and Wailuku, Maui Community Correctional Center, Pacific Cancer Institute, Maui Youth & Family Services, Roselani Place, Foodland Pukalani, Maui Urology and even to friends and staff at Queen’s Medical Center’s respiratory therapy department on Oahu and Residence at Maunalua Bay on Oahu, a care home.

The more he researched, Nakamura found out that janitors at medical institutions and workers at refrigeration companies needed masks to do their jobs and were having a hard time finding them because of COVID-19.

“It felt good,” Nakamura said of being able to help.

He admitted that he got a little carried away by the number of masks he ordered but is glad he did.

“It’s not like I’m a millionaire. The thing is I had that opportunity to do it,” Nakamura said Monday afternoon. “I have a hard time sitting still, not doing anything.”

As his charitable efforts were ongoing, Nakamura’s drapery and window covering business slowed down like others in the community. To ensure that his two employees could still work, the company began making masks at the beginning of April. Nakamura said it was a good fit with them already having materials.

About 1,100 fabric masks were made by Nakamura and his staff, seamstress Jessica Davis and Chris Horiuchi. They halted production on masks about a week ago.

“We are kind of burnt out,” he said.

Plus, there were real customers to tend to.

“It’s going to be tight, but we should be able to survive,” Nakamura said of the family business. He is the third-generation owner.

Nakamura said he still has around 60 fabric masks, and is selling them for $10 each. To purchase, call 283-2559.

The masks would be a moneymaker but Nakamura said he does not want to profit from them. Instead donations and purchases of masks will go toward paying off the $19,000 bill he has accumulated for the KN95 and surgical masks.

So far he has garnered around $9,000 in donations and mask sales to go toward that debt.

Nakamura has called off his online fundraising effort, understanding that many people are without jobs, he said. The GoFundMe page is still up and can be found by searching his name on gofundme.com.

Nakamura said he knew going in that the effort was going to lose money, but getting masks to front-line workers and those who could not afford one was more important.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.