Public Service Project Targeting Coronavirus Pandemic

So many good-hearted people are trying to help others during the coronavirus pandemic.

Take professional seamstress and aerobics instructor Teresa Hickman of Vacaville, Calif., who is devoting much of her time to sewing two-layer cotton face masks, now that her classes are on hiatus.

Over the last three weeks, the wife and mother of two gave away 72 fabric masks to family, friends, neighbors and business associates—and their friends and contacts.

Now, as a public service project, Teresa is crafting them at cost, or for a donation of $5 each. She just purchased $45 worth of elastic, and another shipment is back-ordered.

Teresa doesn't do custom masks but “if I have it, I'll make something.”

If you're an entomologist or someone who loves insects, this could be a good time to wear a face mask adorned with honey bees or dragonflies. (In our  household, we're bee-ing close to honey bees and bumble bees via our face masks.)

Teresa also sews masks geared toward sports fans, dog and cat lovers, food enthusiasts, gardeners, movie-goers and more. The pattern themes range from A (apples) to Z (zebra) for both adults and children.

“I began sewing professionally 19 years ago,” Teresa said. “I started because I was sick. I had to stop teaching aerobics and I needed another business to get me through.”

Bee-ing close to the bees. Face mask by Teresa Hickman. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

In addition to face masks, the Vacaville resident also crafts tote bags (with entomology motifs, too!) doggie outfits, children's hats, bowl cozies and other projects. She also makes bee-motif soaps in oval, circle and square shapes in soft pastels. (Some are garden rose, lavender and lily-scented goats' milk soap bars and some are made of beeswax.)

Alarmed by the coronavirus pandemic, Teresa began sewing the face masks three weeks ago.  “They're helpful to people so they can stay safe. And it's something that's useful; I like to make useful projects. Everything I make has a purpose to it.”

She wears them outside her home and encourages others to do so, too.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is “considering altering the official guidance to encourage people to take measures to cover their faces amid the coronavirus pandemic,” according to an article published March 30 in the Washington Post.

The Post quoted Thomas Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, as recommending the general populace wear nonmedical masks and not the short-in-supply surgical and N95 masks for health workers.

The recommendation under consideration "calls for using do-it-yourself (DIY) cloth coverings, according to a second official who shared that thinking on a personal Facebook account,” the Post related. It's a way to help “flatten the curve.”

"Such DIY cloth masks would potentially lower the risk that the wearer, if infected, would transmit the virus to other people. Current CDC guidance is that healthy people don't need masks or face coverings."

That policy may indeed change. Fast masks can also serve as a reminder not to touch your face.

(Editor's Note: As of April 7, the face masks made by Teresa Hickman are now available only at Jackson Medical Supply, 506 Main St., Vacaville, 95688. For other inquiries, Teresa Hickman can be reached via “Handmade by Teresa” on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HandmadeByTeresa/)