The California State University will receive a donation of 50,000 protective facemasks, a generous gift provided by a partnership of personal protective equipment providers (PPE) Magic Ice Cube and Imagen/SanGuard. The masks will be distributed to the CSU's 21 campuses that have been designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI).
“Protecting the health and safety of our students and employees, while ensuring that students maintain progress toward degree completion have been our two university-wide priorities throughout the pandemic, and this gift will allow us to continue to accomplish both," said CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White. “On behalf of the entire CSU community, I offer my heartfelt gratitude to Imagen/SanGuard and Magic Ice Cube for their generous donation of this much-needed equipment."
As the COVID-19 virus began to spread in California, Governor Gavin Newsom asked the state's business community for help, requesting that any company that could produce or secure PPE equipment come forward. Virginia Madueño, an alumna of California State University, Stanislaus, and her company Imagen/SanGuard, heeded that call, and leveraged its global supply chain to provide the California Department of Public Health with the much-needed safety equipment. Today, Madueño and her business partner Bud Evans, CEO of the SFI Financial Group, work with private and public health care providers across the country to make sure they have a reliable source for safe and high-quality PPE products in partnership with Magic Ice Cube.
“Magic Ice Cube Founder Rudy Rong and I are both immigrants and we had the opportunity to earn a quality education in California, and thus know how important higher education is, and the value of continued learning given this unusual time with COVID-19," said Madueño. “Our goal is to help provide yet another level of protection for some of the hardest-hit communities throughout California, served by the California State University and those campuses designated as HSIs."
Rong, Magic Ice Cube Founder and CEO, is an immigrant from China and entrepreneur who started his PPE business in early March 2020 to bring in highly sought-after quality PPE from China and other Asian countries. Rong has been featured in Forbes, the LA Times, MSNBC, Style Magazine and most recently on CBS' 60 Minutes. He is most notably recognized as the son of Chinese billionaires and has become a successful entrepreneur by launching MagicCube International Inc., a virtual gaming platform, among other business ventures.
“I was excited to help, given the situation," said Rong. “Magic Ice Cube has a strong business relationship with Virginia Madueño and Bud Evans and Imagen/SanGuard in providing PPE to public and private sector entities throughout the country and when they asked about donating masks to CSU and it's HSI campuses in California, I immediately said, 'Yes, let's do it!'"
Hispanic-Serving Institutions are defined under the Higher Education Act as colleges or universities where at least 25 percent of the undergraduate, full-time enrollment is Hispanic, and at least half of the institution's degree-seeking students must be low-income.
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About the California State University
The California State University is the largest system of four-year higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 53,000 faculty and staff and 486,000 students. Half of the CSU's students transfer from California community colleges. Created in 1960, the mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity, and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards nearly 129,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 3.8 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU NewsCenter.