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Selfless plant workers went home after nearly a month on the job: making personal protection equipment for healthcare workers.

Forty workers from the Braskem America plant in Pennsylvania closed out and headed home for the first time in 28 days. The group decided to eat, sleep and work at their job for a full 28 days in order to make polypropylene, the raw materials used to produce a non-woven fiber used to make hospital gowns, N95 masks and sanitary wipes to help fight COVID-19.

The team worked 12-hour shifts with only television or calls with their family to connect them to the outside world.

"There's been a glow in everyone's eyes," Joe Boyce, operations shift supervisor, told WPVI.

But, Broyce said, they consider themselves the lucky ones.


"We're truly honored to be able to give back and support people we will never meet, in some way," he said. "First responders, all the people on the front lines, we thank you for what you've done. That's what makes our job easy to do."

Braskem is rewarding the 40 workers with a raise and a week's paid vacation before they had back for a normal work week.