As another two or three weeks pass by, it’s time to restock materials. My mom and I usually visit the Joann craft stores near our home for a few hours to restock on fabric, look for new deals, and grab a few coupons for our next trip. Although in an ideal situation our team would have unlimited access to materials to make as many masks as possible, buying material is undoubtedly expensive. Even as I scoured through the clearance aisle, looking for the cheapest prices for the most amount of fabric, the costs rack up to over eight hundred, sometimes one thousand dollars.
As quarantine restrictions have loosened, the process for buying masks is now relatively simple. Though it takes hours and is a draining process, it is nowhere close to the first months of continuous struggle to find any fabric at all. In the beginning stages of our organization, looking for fabric was one of the largest concerns for our team. We were consistently running out and didn’t have enough money to restock on our resources. We were running a fragile deficit while all craft stores were closing down and online services were out of stock, had month long waiting times, or were too overpriced.
I eagerly waited for the day non-essential businesses could open up, counting the days tick past and praying our limited supply of resources wouldn’t dissipate. Fortunately, we were able to track down a store in Virginia that housed a multitude of affordable fabric designs. After a thirty minute drive, we stopped by Joann and restocked on a month’s worth of fabric. To this day, the dismayed looks of the other customers as we stack racks on racks of the fabric into the shopping cart is a staple that I’ve come to look forward to when we visit Joanne’s. Thankfully, now we have the luxury of being able to visit the store any time we are low on material.
Initially, we were desperate to find any fabric for our masks regardless of design, material, or even print. However, as we continued to donate our masks, I reached out to several facilities asking if they had any preferences pertaining to color. Though all hospitals didn’t have any, when our team began to donate to the inmate population, I learned that detention centers only take neutral colors like black, gray, and brown.
In August, I remember searching through the clearance and the “out-of-season” fabric. As I took a look at the price and design, on it lay candy canes, gingerbread men, and mistletoe: Christmas themed fabric. I distinctly remember hoping that by the holiday season, four months away, the need for masks will have dissipated entirely. Yet now in December, it is saddening to know that we are using the exact fabric I thought we would never use. Indeed, the number of cases today rivals the numbers in August because of the winter and influenza season. This is only a constant reminder that COVID-19 is a hallmark in our history that has left an indelible mark on society. Despite the more proactive initiatives taken by the federal government, masks and other resources are still a pervasive need for medical facilities. Until normal life restarts, we will continue to bring in and donate more masks to help local areas flatten sharp uptick in demand for medical gear.
December 7th, 2020