17 May Kudos to SewFaceMasks and the Mask Makers of Philly
The whirring of sewing machines busy at work in close to a thousand homes in and around the Philadelphia suburbs. The soundtrack for a new type of neighborhood blooming across Greater Philly and into South Jersey this spring. A neighborhood shaped by shared values, ideals and the need to serve.
Neighbors serving neighbors whom they’ve never met. The poor and suffering in the troubled streets just a couple of miles away. In and around Broad and Market and elsewhere in the trouble spots of this fair city. Where housing insecurity and children at risk is its own pandemic. Where the disease lives unchecked, striking young and old alike, leaving deep scars on The City of Brotherly Love. America’s birthplace.
Sometimes tough times bring out the best in us. SewFaceMasks, the brainchild of Eugene Desyatnik and Nicole Jochym, is a case in point. It’s ingenious in its practicality and in its simplicity. Even how it started is a lesson in how we can turn random chance into a worthwhile movement that helps those in need and inspires the rest of us.
Eugene and Nicole met online in the Facebook group Philly Area Abolish COVID, and banded together to create a volunteer movement to not just supply their community with face masks, but to develop a “horizontally integrated,” household-by-household, thoroughly scalable operation making quality, reusable cotton masks and mask-making kits that can be replicated across the nation.
So far they’ve produced and supplied over 13,000 masks to individuals and institutions for the surrounding area, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), as well as Center For Family Services, the Philadelphia Fire Department, and the Norristown Area School District. Many orders have been filled. Many more need to be. And that’s where we saw a need.
We at the Wong Foundation gravitate to smart, sensible, useful solutions. Eugene’s and Nicole’s practical design coupled with their tireless commitment is making a real difference where needs are greatest. That’s what we look for and what we support.
That’s why we donated and shipped to them gloves and disposable face masks. Because we know they will be put to good use. In fact, they have already set up booths at community centers like the Sayre Health Center and other key locations that have become distribution sites for essential items such as critical protective gear serving underprivileged communities where families with children are most vulnerable. They get it done. That’s why we responded. And we’re just beginning.
If any of you are looking to join a growing neighborhood of active volunteers committed to service in these times, if you have materials for which they have an urgent need to produce their more high-quality, reusable masks – such as 100% Cotton Fabric, Elastic, Thread, Sewing Needles, and Rotary Cutters – or if you want to make a donation so they can expand quicker or if you want to become a Mask Maker yourself, visit their website at www.sewfacemasksphilly.com and please thank them for their service.
