Sewing Masks for Medical Heroes Ripon/Central Valley

Apr. 17

Like many people, when tragedy hits, I want to be able to do something to help. Along with friends and people in the community, we decided to begin sewing masks for medical heroes. We started a Facebook Page to coordinate our efforts so we can get supplies for those who are sewing.

So what is this exactly? Currently, we are focused on making masks for elderly care centers and medical personnel. To date, we have sewn and delivered over 2,000 masks. Masks have been delivered to a number of hospitals and doctors’ offices including, Bethany Home, Ripon Family Physicians, Valley Children’s Hospital and many other medical facilities in the Central Valley. We also provided masks for local establishments such as the Ripon Post Office and the employees of Dollar General and Dollar Tree.

I recently had to go to Kaiser Hospital to have a cast taken off of the wrist I broke earlier this year. I had a small taste of what our medical personnel are experiencing. The checkpoints start in the parking lot and you must wear a mask and disinfect your hands as soon as you enter the hospital. My temperature was checked and there was very clear signage about where it was ok to sit or stand while waiting. It was all very surreal.

I can’t say enough about all the people who have donated their time and skills to sewing masks for medical heroes. My gratitude goes out to all those who sewed endlessly to meet the need in a very short time frame. Thank you also to everyone who donated fabric, funded the purchase of elastic, washed, dried and cut fabric and picked up supplies and distributed the final products. It’s been such a wonderful group effort by the people of Ripon, and additional help from Escalon, Oakdale, Modesto and Riverbank. We also had a group of people sewing button holders for the elastic, which helps to ease the pain on the ears of those wearing the masks all day long. Thank you to a dear friend who took over that part of the project and coordinated the cutting and sewing of those supplies. We've been able to donate one of these with each mask that we donate and give extra of these to those in the medical field. It truly has been a community wide effort.

I look forward with hope, to a time where we are able to interact and hug one another again. When we can get together with family and friends, go to meetings and church and events, and not cross the street if we are on the same side as someone else that’s taking a walk too. For now, we need to stay home and help in any way we can to curb the spread of this awful virus. A huge thank you to each and every person who has volunteered to help with this project and a heartfelt thank you to those working the front lines to help keep us safe!