A THOUSAND FACE MASKS
What can I say about 1,000 face masks? How it started? Where the face masks are now? Who got them there?
In the beginning, three months ago, we had two big brown-paper bags of fabric and sewing notions donated by quilters in our congregation. Our custodian’s wife Beatriz Alvez is a professional seamstress, but the company she works for has been closed since the shelter-in-place order. Beatriz started sewing face masks and was paid by the congregation. (I have heard a rumor that Javier helped her.) Members of the congregation requested masks and made generous donations. The money almost always covered the cost of one mask plus one or two more. We started giving away the extra masks to the volunteers at the Souper Center, the Richmond Food Pantry, homeless people who live under the freeway nearby, and the food service program at McGee Avenue Baptist Church in Berkeley.
We got more donations of material and elastic. Our Board of Missions contributed $600, and our Knitting Ministry contributed about $350.
A Facebook group formed for East Bay people who were making masks. The group was a clearing house for those who were sewing, those who were in need, those who had materials to share, those who were willing to pick up and deliver masks. From that group, we learned that the prison hospital in Vacaville needed masks, the farm workers in Half Moon Bay, a drop-in center for seniors, a drop-in center for homeless women and children, a Kaiser visiting nurse going to in-home patients, and the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Whenever we send a package of face masks, we always include a note telling the recipients where the masks are from and wishing them good health and peace of mind.
Beatriz has now made more than 1,000 face masks. I have about 100 on hand to distribute. Although the initial rush has passed, there are still new organizations making requests for face mask all the time. It’s apparent that we are going to need simple cloth face coverings for a long time yet.
We would like to keep going, but we need an infusion of materials and money. If you’d like to help, please send a check made payable to Arlington Community Church, with “face masks” on the memo line. If you have cotton yardage to spare, please let me know.
Thank you –
Sara Laferte