Mask Makers 2020 West Cobb makes cloth surgical masks and N95 covers for medical personnel in the metro Atlanta area. Over six hundred people from the local community have come together to create, assemble, and deliver the masks. Together they are a force to be reckoned with.
“What we are doing doesn’t replace (hospital) masks. It just makes that mask last longer,” said Acworth resident Tami Gallagher who found out from a friend, a surgical nurse at CHOA, that there was a need for masks due to COVID-19. She helped Gallagher determine the fabric and styles that would be acceptable.
“That’s how everything started. I just started sewing because she said they were almost out of masks,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher’s friends, Jane Swanson and Lorelle LoCurto, and daughter Erin Gibson joined her efforts that snowballed into a community-driven project. “We’re making a lot of masks. People just started coming from everywhere which was just amazing,” Gallagher said.
“We have sewers. We have people who wash the material. We have people that will cut the patterns, that will iron the patterns. We have runners. We have people who get donations,” Swanson said.
One member’s son made a gadget to iron the mask strap. “(The gadget) has been a game-changer. This family has made 100 or more (gadgets) to pass out to people who iron to make that task easier,” Swanson said.
As of April 19, the group has made over 8,810 masks all funded through donations of fabric and monetary donations.
“It amazes me the hearts of these women and men. It’s truly remarkable, these people I’m blessed with. We’re sort of in awe how it’s come together. It’s a well-oiled machine,” Gallagher said.
The project is a way to give back.
“Hopefully, this is something little we can do to make someone’s day a little better that’s actually doing the hard work,” Swanson said.
The project is about caring. “I think every single person in our group draws something different out of this, but all of us have a heart for our community and we care about our community. If we’re not engaged, we’re not complete,” Gallagher said.
The project is about community. There are a million different blessings that could come for this. I hope when it’s all said and done and there is no more need for what we are doing, that all of us find yet something else in our community to embrace like we have embraced this because this has been incredible,” Gallagher said.
“Together we did this. Together is the most important word in that statement. Together we are accomplishing a great thing. I think we are doing something really important not only for the community but for each other,” Gallagher said.
Email Gallaghertami76@gmail.com for masks. Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/844820249370141/about/.
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