I learned that Boulder County Health was looking for masks and I was impressed by how organized they were. They had laid out specs on how they wanted them constructed (prefered fabrics) along with drop off information.


After I had made my first 18, I took off for the Boulder JoAnn store which was a drop off location for this grassroots effort. I chose to go there since I also learned they were helping out in providing free materials to those who were sewing masks. Perfect! Because, I was ready to keep making more, but I was totally out of elastic, and I was having difficulty finding any online.
I did score on the elastic....I also bought more cotton for the inside panel....but I was sorely disappointed in their approach to providing materials. They had "kits" available with materials for six masks! I had driven 24 miles one way, so when I asked if I could have another kit, they said "sorry I can only give you 1". I'm sorry. But that's absurd, this wasn't a craft project, where every participant gets just one.....I (along with every other seamstress) was participating because I wanted to serve the community. I accepted my one kit and headed home.

Once I had another 20+ masks sewn, I decided to look up hospitals closer to me that might be accepting donations.....what I learned was the vast majority of Colorado hospitals were not accepting homemade masks due to the new CDC guidelines. What????!!! I realize this situation was fluid, and I definitely want our frontline healthcare workers to be safe, but I also felt that maybe there were other uses for these. This new approach had happened in just a matter of a couple of days. In fact, Boulder County Health was now only using these "as a last resort". Frankly, I didn't want to continue using my time and energy if they weren't going to be used, or placed in some storeroom never to be seen again. I had even begun making a few of the surgical type masks which allows for a filter to be added and includes wire at the nosebridge for additional safety measures.


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