Sew Supportive: Local volunteers find community in mask making

Many hands make light work, as Lisa Sanchez puts it.

Since March 22, Sanchez and 20 local volunteers have made about 1,000 face masks and 400 face shields for health care workers in local hospitals and long-term care facilities, as well as for first-responders.

Along with her husband, Sanchez runs a not-for-profit farm in Altenburg, Missouri, called Local Blooms Farm. Its mission is “to plant seeds of hope in our community,” according to the farm’s Facebook page. Throughout the year, the farm host youth programs, community gardens, horticulture therapy, recovery support, vocational training, volunteer opportunities and more.

But once COVID-19 reached Southeast Missouri, Sanchez said all the programs and events planned for this season “came to a screeching halt.”

At that time, Sanchez said it was still weeks before they would be ready to begin sowing seeds at the farm, and suddenly finding extra time on their hands, Sanchez said her family began looking for ways to support the community.

One of the biggest questions they faced was, “What do we do to keep our friends and families safe?” Sanchez said she needed to be sure her mother, who is a nurse at a facility in Cape Girardeau, had the essential protection to continue helping the community at work.

“Essentially, that’s how I got started, was my mom saying, ‘I don’t have enough masks,’” Sanchez said, noting her mother’s age puts her at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19. “I was trying to figure out, ‘How on Earth can I cover my mom head to toe to keep her safe on the front lines?’”

After researching how to make masks and sharing her idea through social media — without which Sanchez said the masks and face shields would never have been possible — she suddenly had a group of volunteers to help produce personal protective equipment, or PPE.

The group is made up mostly of women, although Sanchez said a few husbands and children got involved in production along the way.

Some of the volunteers, Sanchez knew through the farm and a few worked at RE/MAX Plus Realty in Cape Girardeau, but most were people she didn’t know, who saw the Facebook post and wanted to help.

The volunteers talked every day by Facebook Messenger, sharing progress updates and touching base about supplies. Some of them have even met face-to-face during coinciding drop-offs at the RE/MAX building at 106 Farrar Drive in Cape Girardeau.

“Some of us have done the ‘foot-shake’ thing at the dropbox,” Sanchez said with a laugh.

But many of the women, about half of the group by Sanchez’s estimates, had not met in person when Sanchez spoke to the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday morning.

And though it began with her, Sanchez said the production of PPE was only possible as “an amazing group effort.”

“This was teamwork built on compassion,” Sanchez said. “It’s not about one person, and community is not about one person. It’s about everybody caring for their neighbor.”

The masks were made using materials such as cotton fabric, elastic and pipe cleaner, Sanchez said, and the face shields were constructed with headbands, plastic sheets and weather-stripping foam. They even made masks sized to fit over an N95 mask and extend its life.

A couple of local physicians tested out the face shields, Sanchez said, who asked for more and even gave a donation for supplies.

On Tuesday, the group of volunteers had begun to step back from producing masks and face shields, Sanchez said, noting it seemed like “everybody, for the most part, [has] what they need.”

A surprising byproduct of the PPE production during social isolation, Sanchez said, was the space it created to form meaningful connections. What was once a group of 20 strangers making masks has become a group of friends making plans for future goodwill.

The volunteers jelled so well, Sanchez said, some of them plan to work together on future charitable projects and are calling their group “Sew Supportive.”

“As soon as we’re able to meet in a larger group, we’re definitely going to meet,” Sanchez said. “All of us have become Facebook friends.”

The Sanchez family also plans to resume moving Local Blooms Farm to its new location just north of Jackson — plans that were interrupted by the pandemic. For this season, they’ll stay put and spend this growing season in Altenburg.

They do a lot of flower farming, Sanchez said, but she’s got special plans for the first flowers that bloom this season.

“I’m growing specific bouquets just for them,” she said. “That’s the least I can do for all their help.”