When COVID hit communities hard in the spring of 2020, healthcare facilities across the U.S. were struggling to find essential PPE for staff and patients.

In Lawrence, MA, Gemline (asi/56070), one of the region’s largest employers, jumped into action. Leveraging its extensive sourcing network and production capabilities, the Top 40 supplier, led by CEO Jonathan Isaacson, pivoted quickly to donate more than 70 million pieces of medical-grade PPE to organizations throughout the country.

Gemline CEO Jonathan Isaacson accepts the 2022 Making a Difference Award from Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. From left: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker; Isaacson; and GLFHC President and CEO Guy Fish, MD.

One of those beneficiaries, nearby Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC), awarded Isaacson its 2022 Making a Difference Award at a gala held May 4 that also welcomed GLFHC President and CEO Guy Fish, MD; keynoter Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker; and over 400 attendees. The event raised nearly $400,000 for GLFHC, a local physical and behavioral healthcare provider that performed almost 90,000 COVID tests as part of the Massachusetts Stop the Spread Testing initiative and administered more than 140,000 COVID vaccines and boosters. Gemline also hosted four employee vaccine clinics in conjunction with GLFHC.

During his acceptance speech, Isaacson, who’s also a founding board member of the Lawrence Partnership – which promotes economic growth in the community – and chair of the Partnership’s COVID task force, referred to the physical and psychological impact that the pandemic has had on residents. “It’s clear the enormous toll that COVID has taken on the mental health of our community,” he said. “Investing in the mental health of the community is critical to a vibrant and equitable society.”

After thanking GLFHC for its hard work over the past two years, Isaacson announced to the gathered crowd that Gemline would match up to $250,000 in donations from now through July 4 toward expanding GLFHC’s much-needed behavioral health services.

“There are many great and important social issues that we are called upon to fix,” Fish said during the event. “We rise to the challenge of fixing social problems. We’ve got a lot of work to do when it comes to expanding behavioral health.”

Isaacson was named Counselor’s Person of the Year in 2021and was second on Counselor’s 2021 Power 50 list. He also recently hosted a webinar featuring Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who provided firsthand accounts of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

With 2020 North American promo products revenue of $115.5 million, Gemline ranked 12^th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry. The new list will be released this summer. 

Those interested in making a donation to the Isaacson/Gem Challenge on behalf of the GLFHC should contact Rich Napolitano, GLFHC Chief Strategy Officer, at (978) 722-2870.