Throughout the past few months, several community members worked to produce masks for the people that needed it most. One group of six women from the Fellowship United Methodist Church in Trophy Club came together to sew and deliver over 3,200 masks locally and across the world.
Part of the Creative Christian Women fellowship group in the church, members Connie White, Gretchen Biery, Judy Johnson, Becky Freeland and Deborah Jewell regularly sew and make crafts for their local partners in the community. After COVID-19 came to Texas in March, many of their philanthropic efforts had to be adjusted due to quarantining and social distancing.
The group started collecting fabric donations and sewing over 3,200 masks to give out for free. FUMC member Dr. Katie Simpson says they started spreading the word through the church’s newsletter, and requests for masks have only grown since.
“A lot of it was just word-of-mouth,” Katie says. “We wanted to take care of our at-risk population. A lot of people were selling them for $12-20, and, for a family, that can really add up. We just started giving them away to our seniors, and it really just started snowballing.”
One of the first donations they made was giving 190 masks to Texas Oncology in Grapevine. From there they gave 233 masks to Metroport Meals on Wheels clients, 145 to Kroger on Southlake Boulevard, 75 to Southlake Police and 30 to Southlake Fire. Katie estimates they’ve given over 3,200 masks to local organizations, even mailing a few masks to Wales and Kuwait.
“I’ve probably given out 100 to people that I couldn’t even tell you,” Katie says. “If I’m at the grocery store, and I see someone not wearing a mask, I’ll ask them if they would like a free mask. They’ll always say yes.”
The group is still looking to give away more masks. Katie says that as long as the pandemic continues, the Mask Posse will continue to sew more masks, averaging about 500 masks a week.
“People have been trying to get masks, can’t get them and we’re just giving it out to them for free,” she says. “We’re here for them. We’re keeping our eyes and ears open and helping however we can. It’s such a little thing we’re doing, but the impact on people is so big.”
To contact the Mask Posse, go online at FUMCTC.com.