Every two weeks, HSFL donates our masks to multiple different facilities across Maryland. We rotate our donations from the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Center, the Doctor’s Community Hospital, the Howard University Hospital, Anne Arundel Detention Center, and the Montgomery County Detention Center.
When preparing for a biweekly donation, packaging our masks is an important aspect that is often overlooked. Initially, when we began donating, we would put our masks into reusable Trader Joe’s or Safeway bags. Unfortunately, while donating, many nurses who would wait outside the hospital to pick up our masks would be confused by what was in the bags.
I realized that packaging masks and presenting them in a neat manner is also critical in the donation process. We had to learn how to package.
The final look of the donation should be a physical representation of all the hard work put in by all our volunteers. Otherwise, many frontline workers would unknowingly not understand what was inside our donations. We even had one instance where the front desk secretary thought that our reusable bags were leftover scraps from the hospital and directed us to the trash bin.
We completely understood that from an outsider’s perspective, the way we present our masks might seem unprofessional and cause confusion. To prevent these instances, we invested in buying cardboard boxes and HSFL logo stickers. This would not only also show each facility where the donation was coming from but allowed the frontline workers to know that in each box homemade masks were ready to be used.
Now when we get ready for donations every other week, we always take the time to ensure our boxes look as good as the masks that are in them. Our incredible cartoonist, Andrea K. also drew a cartoon on how to wear the masks that get placed into each box. We also underlay each box with wrapping paper sheets, write the number of masks into the cardboard boxes, and the name of the facility the donation is heading to. Each smaller box finally gets placed into a larger cardboard box and is ready for donation.
While assembling them may take more time, I believe that the result is worth all the effort. Now, I like to think of packaging our donation boxes like packaging a beautiful gift. In a way, our masks are our gift to frontline workers all across Maryland. As we continue to donate, I am excited to continue packaging — it’s amazing to see the final product come together.
Written by Allison Moon
August 15th, 2020