COMMUNITY MASKMAKER PROJECT
CALLING ALL MASKMAKERS & COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS
ShadeScapes has donated 600+ yards of Texsilk® outdoor fabric, certified for MaskMaking in Spain, to the Delta County Memorial Hospital (DCMH) Foundation COVID-19 Response Efforts Fund, and we’re ready for you to STITCH and/or GIVE!
We’re accepting mask requests from all groups in Delta County’s essential workforce and matching those requests with volunteer MaskMakers.
HOW TO PITCH IN
VOLUNTEER STITCHERS
We Need Volunteer Stitchers, Prep Volunteers & Requests for Essential Workforce Groups
Simply email us at maskmaker@shadescapesusa.com and let us know you would like to join our efforts to make high-quality masks to help protect healthcare staff and other essential workers and keep Coronavirus from spreading in our communities. Let us know how many masks you would like to make and when you can come by to pick up the fabric. We will respond quickly to get your mask-making project moving!
PREP VOLUNTEERS
If you would like to cut fabric, help with other organizing efforts, or donate cotton for mask liners and ties, please let us know in an email to maskmaker@shadescapesusa.com.
ESSENTIAL WORKFORCE GROUPS
If you represent a group of essential workers, or know of one in need of masks, please email us at maskmaker@shadescapesusa.com with the name of the group and how many masks it needs.
RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO SEW
We are following the American Hospital Association’s suggested mask pattern, which they used for their 100 Million Mask Challenge. Masks will be made with an outer layer of Texsilk fabric and an inner lining of cotton fabric for added comfort.
IF YOU DON’T STITCH, PLEASE GIVE
Please support the DCMH COVID-19 Response Efforts Fund to make a donation today! Your donation will directly assist the hospital’s extensive efforts to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Give online today to keep this fund growing to support the expected needs of Delta County.
LET’S UNITE TO REACH OUR MASKMAKING GOAL
We’re ready to distribute Texsilk® fabric to our current and growing team of stitchers who are ready to make more masks! Our project started a little over a week ago, and many masks have already been made. ShadeScapes and the DCMH Foundation are here to support our incredibly talented and dedicated community of volunteer MaskMakers as well as some small local sewing operations in order to quickly get masks made and distributed.
Our goal is to make 10,000 masks. Of those, 1000 are complete. Over the next few weeks, we will distribute Texsilk® fabric to volunteer stitchers who will start making the remainder of the masks for essential workforce groups in our community. We will donate any surplus masks to other nearby counties for their essential workforce.
Intended mask recipients include DCMH staff, all other health care professionals and all essential workforce members in Delta County’s medical clinics, fire districts, police departments, sheriff’s department, hospices, nursing homes, emergency services, government workers, prison system, search and rescue, grocery stores, media outlets, and delivery services. Please let us know who we are missing by sending an email to maskmaker@shadescapesusa.com.
TEXSILK OUTDOOR FABRIC BECOMES MASKMAKING FABRIC
You may be wondering why this fabric is so perfect for maskmasking. Well, one fortuitous night, we learned that a brand of fabric we use for making canopies had become CERTIFIED for making masks in Spain!
Community MaskMakers all over Spain were making masks with Texsilk® fabric to help with the shortage of PPE. Similar shortages in the U.S. and our own Delta and Montrose counties motivated us to follow Spain’s example and help make the highest quality masks possible for essential workers in our local communities.
Texsilk® Outdoor Fabric, woven in Spain, has been a staple of our umbrella canopy-making operations for years. As the COVID-19 crisis began to emerge, we realized the yardage of Texsilk® fabric we had right here in Delta County could be put to great use. We started the COVID-19 Community MaskMaker Project to support the Delta County Memorial Hospital (DCMH) Foundation’s efforts to bring high-quality masks to the DCMH staff and all essential workers in Delta County.
OTHER COMMUNITY DONATIONS
Additionally, Texsilk fabric yardage is being donated to surrounding Western Slope counties including Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel. Other Community MaskMaker Projects are happening in other parts of Colorado and in other states, one led by ShadeScapes’ COO, who lives in and telecommutes from Fayetteville, Arkansas. There, a volunteer group will make masks for a large nursing home and a local hospital. Volunteers in Berthoud, Colorado and Atkins, South Carolina also have started Community Maskmaker Projects using Texsilk fabric for nursing homes, emergency management and fire districts.
DETAILS OF TEXSILK FABRIC
For those of you who love technicalities and comparative analysis, here are more details about the fabric: as a whole, it meets excellent filtration efficiency standards and is ideal for making masks. Texsilk® is highly efficient at filtering out aerosols and particulates. Any cleansing solvent can be used to clean Texsilk® without damaging the fabric, so it is suitable for reuse.
