Although unable to attend the ceremony in Rockville, the Greenbelt Mask Makers felt privileged to win the Montgomery County Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) Community Partner of the Year award. Early in the pandemic – in fact before COVID-19 received pandemic status – ARC staffer Kimberley Njowusi requested masks from the Greenbelt Police Station, the Mask Makers’ initial portal for mask distribution. The Greenbelt organizers noticed on the daily manifest that Njowusi had asked for five masks per day (the maximum per applicant) on every open day and so contacted her directly, realizing that unless she had a family of 50, that was a lot of masks.
In a sense, she had a family more numerous still. She was desperately seeking masks for her ARC client base, whose personal challenges made acquiring masks an almost insuperable obstacle. The Mask Makers mobilized its reserves to meet ARC’s immediate need and provided additional masks later. The five police station masks per day were absorbed back into the community stream and it was a win for everybody.
360-Degree Benefits
ARC is not the only organization in the vicinity to have benefited from the industry of Greenbelt’s sewmeisters. Since March, the Greenbelt group has provided nearly 10,000 masks within Greenbelt and to civic associations, charities and hospital support groups. Most have gone to the immediate area in and around the city and the group has responded generously to all comers. Masks have been supplied, for example, to Green Ridge House, Doctors Hospital and its outreach groups, Prince George’s Hospital Center and to Children’s Hospital groups. Though the demand by the medical profession dropped as industrial products became available, ancillary hospital groups providing family support and in-home care continue, even now, to need help.
Masks in Greenbelt
In particular, the Greenbelt police have distributed close to 3,000 masks (mostly made by mask-making champion Sylvia Hester) during the busy summer season at Greenbelt Lake. The Greenbelt Farmers Market is also still distributing 10 to 20 weekly and will continue to do so until the market season ends in December (holiday-themed masks are available). The masks are free but donations are warmly welcomed. All donations from the masks go directly to the purchase of Co-op Supermarket gift cards that are given to the St. Hugh of Grenoble food pantry – this currently averages ~$70 per week. These gifts supplement non-perishable distributions by the pantry, allowing recipients to purchase much-appreciated fresh fruits, vegetables, bread and dairy products at Co-op. To date, these donations have sent over $3,000 in gift vouchers to needy families in Greenbelt.
The Beat Goes On
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition – and none of the mask makers really expected nine months later to still be churning out masks. The supply of fabric has been renewed multiple times – 10,000 masks is equivalent to 1,000 yards of fabric – enough to wrap around the Greenbelt library about 50 times (in very round numbers)! Laid end to end, the masks (excluding ties!) would stretch from Beltway Plaza to Greenway Shopping Center. Hundreds of yards of elastic, thousands of yards of thread and several sewing machines needing 20,000-mile tune-ups have gone into the mix.
And it’s not over. The demand continues and there’s plenty of cheerful fabric in the box, lots of expertise in efficient sewing and there continues to be a warm and loving spirit in the group. More information is available for those wishing to participate at facebook.com/groups/GreenbeltCovid19FaceMask.
The group is grateful for the donated fabric and notions received from many a Greenbelt attic, and for the generous gift to the Freedom Foundation by Eric Case of myaffordablecoverage.com that provided materials for the masks distributed at the Lake. For the mask makers, distributors and wearers – there has been the satisfaction of a joint effort where it is entirely reasonable to believe that lives have been saved.
