The six weeks of making masks and scrub caps was a labour of love for the Barrie Simcoe North Chapter of Homemade Masks for Hometown Heroes.
Launched by Trish Campbell in early April, a team of sewists turned their hobby into a factory-like production, producing thousands of masks and scrub caps for those who needed them because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Campbell was joined by Kelly Dory, Darlene Botman, Louise Smith, and Barb Shopland. They called themselves the "maskateers."
They were supported by other sewists, as well as people taking orders and making deliveries.
Masks and scrubs were made for staff at hospitals, long-term care centres, seniors living at home, those who were immunocompromised, transit drivers and others.
Campbell said a similar group started something in York Region and she thought why not in Barrie and North Simcoe.
"We began with 25 masks a day and near the end were churning out 700 a day," said Campbell. "Everybody had a variety of tasks. The biggest thing was it gave everybody a focus where there wasn't much positive to focus on. There was a tremendous vibe among the group. It was selfless volunteering."
Most of the participants did not know each other. It was an anonymous group coming together to pump out a major production.
They got so busy, the group ran through a total of 20,000 metres of elastic just to keep up with the demand. They also had requests from companies and the general public.
Campbell said they were grateful for the donations of raw material. Money that would have been used for expenses were donated to food banks in Barrie, Orillia, Midland, Wasaga Beach, Elmvale and the food bank at Georgian College.
In the end, the group had 150 volunteers tasked with a variety of jobs.
A week ago Friday was the end of an incredible journey of giving back to their community.
Campbell said they made 22,176 masks, 2,342 scrub caps and 1,202 ear savers.
