1,000+ Face Masks Lovingly Created

Redeemerites Make 1,000+ Face Masks
by Carol Sanger

It took three months and two countries, at least four states, the Internet and 80 yards of material, plus an army of cutters, sewers and distributors to accomplish. But accomplish it they did. More than 1,000 Covid-19 face masks were lovingly produced, and the Church of the Redeemer family is the beneficiary.

Masks will be blessed during our first live online worship service from the sanctuary on Sunday, August 16th. Then, Church of the Redeemer’s network of neighborhood connectors – the same group organized by the Rev. Joyce Keeshin and Anny Stevens-Gleason that helps keep us connected, the group which distributed flowering plants at Easter time – will ensure that by the end of August each adult member of the Church of the Redeemer family will be given a green twill face mask to wear.

According to Joyce, the masks are a symbol that says more clearly than anything that “we love each other and want to keep each other safe."

“From when we first started talking about this project back in May, the thought was to find a way to actually demonstrate that we are one – one family in Christ, and one community rooted in love and care for one another, especially in difficult times such as these,” Joyce stated.

The face mask project involved the efforts of 25 church members and was spearheaded by volunteers Elizabeth Coley and Heather Krombolz, who organized the sourcing and managed production. It was a Herculean effort that, as with so many things, started out sounding fairly simple.

“Joyce had heard that I was making masks for residents of the Episcopal Retirement Services and asked if I would consider helping her with a project she had in mind--making masks for the entire adult congregation." The seed of the idea having been planted; it soon grew like a beanstalk into something much larger. "I'm thinking we need a thousand," is what Joyce told her. "What would that involve?" And it was then that recruiting a volunteer army of cutters and sewers began in earnest, led by Joyce and Heather Krombholz.

But cutters need something to cut, and sewers need something to sew, so the first challenge was to decide on the color and type of fabric to use. The color chosen was a deep green, representative of the Season after Pentecost, often referred to as Ordinary Time, that the Church now is in. The coordinating team chose cotton twill for the fabric since it's tightly woven and would not require an extra layer of lining.

The next challenge proved more difficult – how to find at least 80 yards of green cotton twill in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. This took some ingenuity, perseverance and patience.

A search of all local JoAnn’s Fabrics stores in early June netted a total of 24 yards, quickly scooped up by Joyce. Fifty-six yards had to be ordered online and shipped from at least four JoAnne's locations across the country. Finally, calls to stores outside of the Greater Cincinnati area resulted in locating an additional 17 yards, which were shipped from Indianapolis, for a margin of safety.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was busy with the practical matter of what to do with the fabric when it arrived. So, she created a pattern for the pleated masks and a design for how to position the pattern on the fabric to ensure that none was wasted.

With an iMovie app and production help from her daughter, Kate, Elizabeth created a short “How To Sew” video that was posted to her Google drive and made available to the 23 volunteers who were cutting and sewing the fabric and elastic…

Wait! Elastic?! Where’s the elastic for the ear loops? When you need it, you need it and nothing else will do. And 1,000 masks require a quarter mile of elastic, which was unavailable in any quantity at that time because similar mask-making was happening in homes and communities all across the country.

Elizabeth had run into this problem earlier when making the ERS masks. At that time she contacted her sister-in-law in Buffalo, NY, knowing that her sister in Suzhou, China owns a textile factory. Through that contact and the generosity of family, the required elastic was donated and shipped to the U.S. straight from the factory floor.

But nothing is that simple.

Soon, a box arrived from Suzhou, but upon opening it, Elizabeth's sister-in-law discovered that instead of elastic, it was filled with KN-95 hospital-grade masks! No elastic. They had sent the wrong shipment. So, it was back to the factory in Suzhou, and another wait for another delivery.

It took a month from the initial contact for the elastic finally to arrive -- five pounds of it on two huge rolls, which Elizabeth donated and noted was “more than enough!” to complete the project. (The KN-95s were donated to a hospital in Arizona.)

With all materials at hand, Heather was racking up miles on her odometer, picking up fabric yardage to deliver to the nearly two dozen volunteer cutters and sewers scattered across the area, and returning days later to pick up the finished masks.

Noting that she frequented Elizabeth Grover’s and Shelley Dumoulin's homes most often, Heather says her reward for the work she did was the chance to celebrate Christmas and Easter multiple times each week.

“I felt a bit like the Easter Bunny as I left fabric on doorsteps and scurried away,” she said. “And then I got to have a little Christmas every time I went to pick up the finished masks. It was such a privilege to be part of this project! It really took a village to get this task completed, and I’m so proud of the time and efforts all of the volunteers gave."

So that’s the story behind the green Church of the Redeemer mask you soon will receive – what Elizabeth calls “not just another mask, but a special Sunday mask” that is the product of over 300 hours of sewing, family connections, international resources and an emotional bond that brings all of us together in the community of love and caring that is Church of the Redeemer.

With thanks to:

The Rev. Joyce Keeshin
Beth Brykman
Joan Burrow
Chris Cho
Elizabeth Coley
Kate Coley
Shelley Dumoulin
Elizabeth Grover
Carol Hesser
Kathleen Jenks
Heather Krombholz
Izzi Krombholz
Kirtley Krombholz
Angie Lovejoy
Les McNeill
Carolyn Martin
Minda Matthews-Smith
Marlo Parlin
Alyssa Taylor
Deanna Thompson
Emily von Allmen
Beth Weinewuth
Grace Weinewuth
Noah Weinewuth
Lynn Zajac