Devin Morgan plans to make and donate enough masks to the Chelsea District Schools so every student can have one.
She says her family’s mask project began when she and her daughters started making them for her husband, a sergeant for the Michigan Department of Corrections, at the start of this COVID 19 pandemic.
After sending them with him to work for he and his coworkers, she then started making and donating masks to other places that needed them.
Fast forward a few months and that initial smaller effort has now greatly expanded. She’s made it her goal to make and donate more than 2,000 washable and reusable masks in various sizes to the Chelsea District Schools.
“This will make it so that each child will have one mask,” she says, adding, “These masks can be washed and used over and over. Many of them have a filter pocket sewn into them so that a filter can be inserted into the mask.”
The project began as a family affair in the early months of the COVID 19 pandemic. Devin began sewing the masks and her daughters Madison, 14, and Chloe, 8, trimmed the strings. Son Adam Edwards got involved making ear savers/mask extenders on his 3D printer.
“It seemed like we began working on these more and more each day,” she says, adding, “The girls and I joked about making a business called Morgans Mask Making.”
And, after donating so many of them to places and people in need, they realized that the cost of fabric, elastic, thread, bags to put them into, etc. was getting expensive, so they began selling them for $10 each to people that could afford to pay for them, while continuing to donate them to those who couldn’t afford them.
The ear savors/mask extenders were sold for $5 each to those who could afford them and donated to those who couldn’t.
As news of this family project spread, they received donations and volunteer help from Chelsea VFW Post 4076, The American Legion, The Sons of the Legion, Craig Maier, Elaine Bater, Judy Coleman, Alice Greenstein, Shelley Brenner, Janet Jones and Hands All Around Quilting Group.
At this point, the Chelsea family has made more than 700 masks.
“We live in a wonderful supportive community and all of these masks and PPE will go directly to the Chelsea School District for our local students. Keeping our Chelsea School District students safe is a number one priority,” she says.
In addition, she’d like to able to provide the teachers, office staff, bus drivers, and other various staff members replacement masks.
“We would also like to get additional donations to purchase disposable masks and re-useable filters to give to the schools,” she says.
People have volunteered to wash the masks after they become dirty, so that they can be re-used. And Morgan would like to provide them with the necessary supplies to do this (such as laundry detergent, sanitizer, bags to put them into to keep them clean, etc.).
“Depending on much support we have with this project, we would also like to expand it and be able to provide the school district with other PPE — like disinfectant wipes and spray, sanitizers, etc,” she says.
Even if the schools do not open in September, they will be opening eventually, and they will be needing masks and the other supplies, she says.
There is a new Facebook group called Morgans Mask Making so they can communicate with people about volunteering, donations, etc. (Note there is no apostrophe because that makes it harder to locate the group.)
She says they can always use more volunteers to help wash, iron, cut and sew.
And, they welcome donations of time, materials and monetary donations.
“My girls and I will also continue to make masks to sell to help raise money to go toward this project,” she says, adding that profits will go toward the school mask project.
For more information, you can email [email protected] or call/text 734-754-1459.
Monetary donations can be made via Paypal by using paypal.me/MorgansMaskMaking or by check/cash and sent to Morgans Mask Making, 20650 West Old US Highway 12, Chelsea MI 48118.
