Paying it forward! Accelerate’s active lifestyle brand LifeToGo teamed up with Mark Wahlberg‘s Performance Inspired brand to do some good for schools across America amid the coronavirus pandemic. On September 22, the partnership announced they donated 1.3 million disposable face masks to students and teachers in local school districts in 13 states.

“At Accelerate, we value our long-standing partnerships with our retail partners and wanted to show support for the schools in their communities with our face mask donation,” said Accelerate Chief Executive Officer David Parry. LifeToGo and Performance Inspired worked hard to determine which schools in the selected cities could use the help most, and disposable 3-ply masks were handed out in Bentonville, Arizona, Boise, Idaho, Chicago, Illinois, Cincinnati, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lakeland, Florida, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Portland, Oregon, Quincy, Massachusetts, Rochester, New York, Salisbury, North Carolina, San Antonio, Texas and Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

“This is a great opportunity to partner with LifeToGo and help our students and educators across the country to stay healthy and safe so they can focus on education.” said Performance Inspired founder Wahlberg, who also recorded a special video message thanking the hard-working essential workers and teachers across the country. A similar message can be spotted on billboards in the selected cities.

“With the help of Mark and Performance Inspired, we hope that the billboards also show our appreciation for the essential workers who are bravely stepping up to the challenges created by the pandemic every day,” said Accelerate Chief Business Officer Trey Holder.

The partnership between Accelerate’s LifetoGo and Performance Inspired is a match made in heaven. LifeToGo recently launched a successful line of Personal Protection Equipment that includes hand sanitizer, gloves, disinfectant wipes, cloth and disposable face masks, PPE safety kits and immunity-boosting supplements, which makes them the perfect brand to help protect teachers and students in the classroom. Meanwhile, Wahlberg and Tom Dowd, a 25-year industry expert and the ex EVP, GM, and CMO of GNC, launched Performance Inspired in 2016 to help inspire people to live a healthier lifestyle with natural and trustworthy supplements. Currently, two percent of net profits of Performance Inspired goes directly to charity, so donating masks is just their latest endeavor in finding ways to give back to the community.