A Quad Cities area volunteer sewing group has made and donated thousands of masks throughout the community since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
As kids head back to school this fall, the Sewing Angels group is now helping thousands of students.
KWQC-TV 6 says the group started their volunteer efforts back in March for medical professionals. Since then, as many as 450 volunteers have been assisting in the making of masks.
“We didn’t solicit schools to ask them if they needed masks. We sort of did it the same way we did with the hospitals. We put it out there in the community that we’re making masks for schools if folks were interested they had to contact us,” Shelli Eng, Sewing Angels Coordinator, tells KWQC-TV 6.
Since then, they’ve donated thousands of masks to several school districts in the QCA. Most recently, they donated 8,500 masks to the Moline-Coal Valley School District and they’re still going. They’ve hit a mark of more than 100,000 mask donations during the pandemic.
“We will have made at least 130,000," Eng says. “I will never know for sure how many masks all of our Sewing Angels put into the community because so many of them are just donating, making masks, and just donating all over the place.”
Anyone interested in helping sew or donating fabric can reach out to Shelli Eng on Facebook.
(Photo by KWQC-TV 6)