The Bradford community is being asked if it can help, and you don’t have to sew to be helpful.
During the World War II, citizens were asked to grow their own gardens in order to expand the food supply. Today — at this moment in the community — there is a greater demand for face masks than there is a supply. A grassroots effort is underway to encourage the community to grow a new kind of ‘victory garden’ — a victory garden of face masks. This blitz initiative, called ‘Make-a-Mask Monday’ focuses on producing as many face masks as possible to help meet the needs throughout local communities. At this time, there are requests totaling 1,700 masks from local not-for-profit organizations who have employees putting themselves at risk to help kids, parents and the community.
Make-a-Mask Monday is being coordinated through the “Helping Bradford, PA During Coronavirus” team of volunteers. The Little Fabric Garden, Bradford’s local fabric store, has provided the guidance and coordination for volunteers to measure, cut, and iron 7”x10” cloth bundled and bagged for ‘sewing kits’. Next, volunteers are delivering the ‘sewing kits’ to a housebound circle of volunteer sewers who produce the masks. The delivery volunteers pick up completed face masks hanging from the door knobs to minimize interactions during the exchange. Another set of delivery volunteers will be delivering completed masks to those on the needs list.
Carolyn Newhouse, one of the administrators of the ‘Helping Bradford, PA During Coronavirus” initiative, explained, “This initiative is not owned by any one person or group but reflects a grassroots, community-based effort to take care of each other. Daily we have people from our community stepping forward and offering to help those in our community unduly impacted by the coronavirus. The ‘Helping Bradford…’ Facebook page has over 1,500 members and has seen 17,000+ posts and comments in the four weeks it has been available. We have assisted over 250 people through the Bradford Cares Hotline at 1-814-366-5901. Now we are seeing increased demand for facemasks.”
She continued, “For weeks, we have had a group of volunteers, including Yolanda Chiodo and Donnia Dennig, working tirelessly to produce homemade masks and delivering them to various organizations. There have also been other local groups modestly sewing and delivering masks. Now we are joining all of our forces to coordinate and scale this effort. This latest initiative — to produce a mass quantity of face masks — is an example of how our community comes together to accomplish more.”
What can you do to help? Perhaps you, your mom, or your sister did sew and has an old sewing box in the house. The search is on as the community is being asked to dig out those old sewing boxes and search for elastic, 100% cotton material, and interface. All donations can be picked up by calling the Bradford Cares Hotline at 1-814-366-5901. More housebound volunteers who have the capability and a machine to sew could be used. Anyone interested in volunteering to sew can also call the hotline.
Just as the World War II victory gardens reduced pressure on the public food supplies and served as civil “morale boosters,” our communitywide effort to help provide masks for the community-at-large helps unite and empower us for the greater good in our community.
