East Alabama Mask Makers Present EAMC With Quilt
October 29, 2020In March, as COVID-19 began to spread throughout our community, many wanted to help, but did not know what they could do to assist the hospital from afar. Sewists, however, knew exactly what to do when news of mask shortages across the world was made known.
Warren Allen Tidwell
Without any prompting, people from the community led by the efforts of Warren Allen Tidwell, chief organizer of The Hometown Organizing Project in Auburn, Ala., developed a Facebook group called “The East Alabama Mask Makers.” The Hometown Organizing Project is normally focused on disaster relief, and while this was a very specific type of disaster relief that none of us had experienced before, they used the power of social media to gather sewists throughout the state to help make face masks for EAMC and other organizations in our area.
Within a span of days, the group grew to over 1,000 members. Sixteen weeks later, sewists, local fabric stores, and even Auburn University sewed over 75,000 masks.
When fabric and elastic became scarce, those who didn’t sew came to the rescue. Reaching across state lines, monetary donations, fabric, and sewing machines appeared. Sherry Griswold, through her connections with Interstate Narrow Fabrics in Hall River, N.C., donated over 4.7 miles of elastic.
A true testament to their grassroots efforts, the East Alabama Mask Makers Group became a template for at least eight additional groups throughout the state of Alabama and Georgia, supplying over 22 organizations with masks.
"Warren Allen Tidwell and the East Alabama Mask Makers were one of the first groups to reach out to EAMC and ask if they could support us in our fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic," says Laura Eason, EAMC Chaplain. "This group of volunteers worked tirelessly to help our community stay safe, and we cannot thank them enough for partnering with us to help 'flatten the curve'."
Ann Nahikian, Laura Eason, Karen Hughes, Warren Allen Tidwell,
Randy Causey
In appreciation for the care and support of our community, The East Alabama Mask Makers presented a quilt to EAMC made completely from scraps of the thousands of masks made in response to COVID-19.
The Hometown Organizing Project’s mission is “Protecting Our People. Telling Our Stories. Building Our Future.” And that is exactly what they did for EAMC and other organizations in our greatest time of need.
