Michael Levin, sales & marketing manager for Independent Pipe & Supply writes a salute to the trades and other essential workers making it possible for the county to fight COVID-19.

"As I sit at my makeshift desk that I set up to work from home I think about all the projects that have crossed my monitor aimed at stemming the tide of COVID-19 and to support those on the front line.

At the first mention of the word, “essential” one would think of the doctors and nurses in the trenches. We honor them for immersing themselves in the effort to save those who have been infected. We also honor all the other essential workers who may be in the shadows working behind the scenes to defeat this virus. The truck drivers delivering needed supplies, the men and women on factory floors all over the country making medical equipment and the foodservice personnel keeping these people fueled with nutrition to keep moving forward in this fight.

Independent Pipe & Supply, all wholesalers throughout the country and all our industry partners know we are more than essential. We salute the highly skilled mechanical contractors, plumbers, pipe fitters, welders, fire protection contractors and electricians; all the men and women in the trade and those who support them.

As an industry, we are contributing by supplying, installing and monitoring all the materials and equipment to make the “Pop Up” hospitals operational. We provide the medically cleaned pipe, valves and fittings so oxygen and medical gas can flow to patients in need. The steel pipe for gas and heat, copper tube for water and drainage. We supply the sanitary pipe to the food industry and polished pipe to the pharmaceutical companies to aid in the manufacture of a vaccine.

Once put together, our materials are transformed into the arteries and veins of these buildings; our equipment, like vital organs, makes them operational. Our combined efforts bring life to life-saving structures. We’re helping by expanding the testing labs refrigeration units to keep up with the wave of tests coming to them, and by setting up the infrastructure for the ventilators so desperately needed to save lives.

We honor you all for your more than essential efforts and for your great American spirit that is the key ingredient towards victory for all."