GOT IT COVERED: An army of mask-makers is filling an important gap in protective equipment

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Mary Anne Siurek shows off some of the more than 200 masks she has made. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)

HANCOCK COUNTY — Like everyone else, Mary Anne Siurek felt the monotony set in soon after the state’s self-isolation orders went into effect last month.

As soon as she heard that the local hospital was in need of face masks, she knew exactly how to spend her time — making handmade fabric masks to fill the need.

“I started making masks as soon as the state closed. I had no place to go but my sewing room,” said Siurek, a quilter and longtime seamstress.

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So far, she’s made about 250 masks, and she was recently asked to make 50 more for Hancock County Senior Services drivers.

Most of the masks she’s made have gone to Hancock Regional Hospital, but she mailed some to family, friends and her doctor’s office. “I made four masks for a lady I didn’t know because a friend asked,” Siurek said. “When she came to pick up her masks at my house, she had a thank you note with money inside. I bought more material with her money,” she said.

Siurek, who lives in Greenfield, is happy to use her skills to serve the community she’s called home for nearly 50 years.

“I really like to sew, and I have a closet full of good unused material, so I felt a strong desire to help,” she said.

She’s far from alone. Dozens of sewers throughout the county have answered the call to provide masks for healthcare providers and individuals since the pandemic began.

A sewing club called Stitch and Chat, from the Greenfield Senior Center, has been churning out hundreds of masks.

About six members of a women’s Bible study group at Community Christian Church in New Palestine is also answering the demand.

One of the members, Chris Campbell, was thrilled to find a good use for some bins of fabric she had sitting around. It takes her about 20 minutes to sew each mask, which requires a 6-by-9-inch piece of fabric and two pieces of elastic, she said.

Alli Rose, of the Time & Again Shop in Fortville, donated 20 of her handmade masks for Meals on Wheels of Hancock County volunteers who continue to make daily deliveries. Her mom, a Meals on Wheels delivery volunteer in North Carolina, was her inspiration.

Another woman, Cherie Burrow, donated 50 of her hand-sewn masks to local Meals on Wheels volunteers. Both women reached out to the organization through Facebook.

Debbie Horn, a member of The Unraveled Club at Park Chapel, said the mask project has been rewarding for her sewing group. They’ve made more than 750 masks so far, distributing them through the Hickory Creek Healthcare Foundation, which overseas a network of nonprofit nursing homes in central Indiana.

“They told us that not a single one of their 500 residents or 500-plus employees has gotten sick, to which they’re crediting the masks, so that makes us feel really good,” Horn said. “We’re all just working for the Lord and doing whatever He directs us to do.”

While she’s not sewing masks herself, Margie Clarke has been buying fabric for her Purdue Extension Homemakers club — Hearts and Homes — whose members have made roughly 300 masks so far.

The need strikes close to home for Clarke, whose sister died from COVID-19 complications just a day after Clarke’s husband passed away from a non-virus related illness in March.

Being able to give back to the community has been a positive outlet for Clarke during her grief.

She launched the effort with Beth Williamson & Laura Benefiel, owners of The Pizza Shop in Morristown. Since March 20, the group of 20 or so homemakers has donated masks to Hancock Regional Hospital, Morristown Manor and Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen, as well as individuals.

“We are not selling them, but if someone feels the need to donate money, the funds will be reinvested into the project,” said Clarke, who said the group has been blessed with a donation from CGS Services in Morristown as well as individuals.

As the pandemic drags, the need for fabric masks continues — especially in light of recent guidelines that people should wear masks in public.

Nancy Davis, executive director of the Hancock Health Foundation, has been happily overwhelmed by the number of groups and individuals donating masks and other supplies to the hospital in recent weeks.

The list of groups and individuals who have contributed runs long, said Davis, who rattled of a long list including a group from Brookville Road Community Church, the Casto Muscle Foundation and a club appropriately named SewandServe. While the hospital has enough masks for now, Davis is helping direct donations to other organizations.

Local nonprofit Love INC has encouraged local sewers who are interested in helping to look up patterns for the handcrafted masks online.

Donations can be dropped off in a collection bin just inside the double doors at Hancock Regional Hospital’s surgery center, at Door 23, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.

For more information on how to donate, contact Davis at 317-468-4583 or [email protected].

To get in touch with a group offering masks, contact Love INC at loveinc-ghc.org or call 317-468-6300.