Commissioner Zaikya Smalls announced at the regular meeting of the Lehigh County Commissioners Feb. 24 that she has donated 1,000 personal protective masks worth about $300 to the Lehigh County Jail.

“I had true concern regarding the allocation of masks in the jail. We, the general public, are told to dispose of our mask daily if they’re disposable and to wash them frequently if they are reusable,” Smalls said in a post-meeting interview.

“I just wanted to do something … for the inmates and staff.”

Smalls said she cleared the idea with Director Janine Donate,who is in charge of the County Jail, located in Allentown. “She was very thankful and accepted my offer.

“If possible, I’d do it several times throughout the year because saving a life is priceless.”

Smalls, originally from Harlem in New York City and a Fordham University graduate, is no stranger to personal protective equipment or to keeping places clean. She is the co-founder and owner of J&Z Professional, a cleaning company that has contracts with Lehigh Valley Health Network, the Allentown Art Museum, Connoisseur Media (home to 99.9 The Hawk, ESPN Sports Radio and 107.1 Spin Radio) and East Stroudsburg University, as well as other businesses in the area.

She also involves herself in service in other ways. She is a member of the Lehigh Valley Health Network Board of Associates, the African American Business Leaders Council for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Allentown and CREW Lehigh Valley.

In other business, the commissioners passed a resolution to accept a $5,000 contribution from the David M. Petzold Foundation. Earlier at a brief Courts and Corrections Committee meeting, Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin provided information and background on the donation.

According to Martin, the donation will be used to support the David M. Petzold Lehigh County Digital Forensics Laboratory on the campus of DeSales University.

“The Petzold Lab is a vital law enforcement tool employed by police departments in both Lehigh and Northampton County.”

He said Northampton County and Lehigh County contribute money to the lab from their forfeiture funds. Martin said Petzold Foundation raises its revenue through an annual golf tournament, an annual dinner dance at DeSales University and a motorcycle ride-a-thon. “None of those things could be held during 2020 because of the pandemic.

“DeSales has been very generous to us,” said Martin.

Commissioner Dan Hartzell, a co-sponsor of the resolution to accept the donation, said, “It’s nice to see that the people who contribute to this foundation made such a positive thing come of such a horrific event.”

Hartzell, a former reporter and a Lehigh County Commissioner, covered the story when, in pre-dawn hours, Petzold was struck Nov. 9, 2006 by a van while attempting to clear a deer carcass from Pa. Route 309 just north of its intersection with Passer Road just outside Coopersburg.

Commissioners also appointed Rising Tide Community Loan Fund as administrator of the Lehigh County COVID-19 Hospitality Recovery Program which has received a $4 million allocation from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021(CARES).