Dear TRENDS Diary,
Roberta: I was having a hard time at the beginning of the pandemic because of my post traumatic stress disorder. I was having nightmares again, and I was not sleeping well. One day, I remembered that I have a sewing machine, I have fabric — I can make masks.
Gary: Once Roberta brought it up, I wanted to help. I can’t sew, but I can cut a pattern, I can iron. So I am in charge of ironing the fabric, laying out the template, tracing the template, cutting out the linings and the outer layers, and then Roberta takes it from there.
Roberta: We’ve gotten fabric donated, elastic donated. People are just donating left and right. The masks are free to all, but if someone insists on giving us a donation, we’ll take it. We don’t let anyone who is struggling pay.
Every time we hand out one, we get a request for five more. I had to go to the phone store today for a repair; I gave each of the workers masks because they were in customer service with no protection. It seems like there’s a lot of need. We have a running list of requests and deliveries.
One of my friends took one each for herself and her husband, who works at Warren Village, a nonprofit single-parent housing community in Denver. He asked for 100 masks, so we started on those.
Gary: I’m totally grooving on it. It’s like a working meditation: When I’m focused and being present, I’m not in my head, I’m not worried about things. I’m enjoying it.
Roberta: It’s taking so much energy. We wake up, we live and breathe masks all day until we’re about to drop. I’ve hardly thought about the virus.
I love doing this. It fills my heart.
– Roberta Walbert and Gary Shunk, as told to Shay Castle
