On March 20, Laureate Park resident Abby Mainville contacted the Laureate Park community via Facebook to ask for donations of material to make masks to protect against the coronavirus. Linda Thierry, quilter and member of the Facebook group, knew that a lot of fabric would be needed if masks were to be made to meet the needs of the community. Thierry did some research and came across the American Sewing Guild, Orlando Chapter. The chapter was working with Nemours Children’s Hospital and had already selected an approved pattern for the masks. The next step was to reach out to Laureate Park residents to locate people with the skills and time to support the creation of masks to be distributed throughout the community. Thierry reached out to the Laureate Park Ladies Over 55 Group to find volunteers, and thus, the Laureate Park Mask Brigade was created.
The Laureate Park Mask Brigade was made up of 45 volunteers making masks for Nemours and the Laureate Park community. The group’s goal was to fill the gap between the immediate need for some level of protection until manufacturers could fill the need once again. They used supplies donated by Laureate Park residents and from their respective stashes of fabric, thread, and elastic. Thierry put a call out for donations from three Laureate Park bunco groups and within minutes had met her materials goal. Prior to these donations, Thierry had been purchasing mask-making materials from Wandering Stitches, a quilt store located on Hoffner Avenue, almost daily until they had to close their doors. The owner of Wandering Stitches also delivered some needed supplies, including a generous donation of fabric, to the Laureate Park Mask Brigade.
For the Laureate Park Mask Brigade, the process of creating masks took a lot of engagement from volunteers. Some people washed and pressed the fabric, others cut fabric or zigzagged straps down, and some cut elastic/bands. Once the materials were ready, volunteers biked, walked, or used electric vehicles to move the product down the assembly line. Since its inception, the group had made just under 3,700 masks.
The Laureate Park Mask Brigade provided masks to Laureate Park residents, Nemours, the Lake Nona VA, the Fisher House, all three Ronald McDonald Houses in Orlando, UCF’s College of Medicine, the Orlando Police Department, Laureate Park Elementary, and Publix, among others. Masks were delivered to neighbors by doing a quick, no-contact porch dropoff and sending the neighbor a text message to tell them their mask had been delivered.
For Thierry, being part of the Laureate Park Mask Brigade was a meaningful and personal endeavor. She notes that because Laureate Park is the community located next to Medical City, an abundance of medical personnel reside there. This enabled the group to give to the larger medical community as well as their friends and neighbors on the frontlines. Working on this project also gave the group a focus, something to keep busy with a sense of purpose during difficult times.
Thierry hopes that the takeaway is that it takes a village. In the seven years that she and her family have lived in Laureate Park, this has been a recurring theme. Currently, Laureate Park residents are sharing supplies, lifting each other’s spirits, offering to do shopping for others who are unable to safely leave their homes during this time, creating community-wide games, and so much more to support each other in this difficult period.
“I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to be part of the Laureate Park Mask Brigade for so many reasons,” Thierry says. “I have met wonderful, dedicated, and hardworking individuals. They inspired me daily.”
At this time, the Laureate Park Mask Brigade has mostly stopped production, although they are still available to make masks with remaining inventory at the request of Laureate Park businesses and residents.
Photo Courtesy of twitter.com/OrlandoPolice
