Over the last few months Samantha and her staff saw the need coming for masks to help control the Covid-19 outbreak. Fortunately the 3 of us know how to sew, and were also able to have help from several members of our church to help us. We had the fellowship hall turned into a sewing factory. We had a cutting station, then the pieces were put together and sewn, then turned, and ironed, then the finishing touches of the sewing.
We used water repellent medical fabric for both pieces with a water repellent filter in the center for the first batch of over 800. We gave several away to patients leading up to our first give-away. The first Saturday we set-up in our parking lot to give away our masks. We put 2 masks and instructions in each bag. We were OVERWHELMED with the need! We gave away all 800 in 70 minutes! We knew immediately we would have to have another give away. Our second batch we used the same medical material for the inner layer, but for the outer layer we used cotton blends that were prettier, with a bit more personality. We were expecting a good turnout, but nothing prepared us for what we saw when we turned into the parking lot that morning. Cars were bumper to bumper all the way through the parking lot. Before we could get set-up outside the cars were down fourth street, and even in line on 17 waiting to turn in for a mask. The community was so thankful for our efforts. We were glad to be able to serve our community. We wanted to be pro-active, and help those in the public be more safe.
If you have one of our masks, remember to wash it out, they are machine washable. And save it for Flu and Strep season this fall.