More locals step up to fill fabric face mask needs

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Dusti Bacon was already thinking of others.

Her own health problems sent her into quarantine back in September. When the bush fires broke out in Australia, she started using her sewing prowess to craft kangaroo pouches for orphaned joeys.

Then the news shifted. So did her focus.

“China quarantined 43 million people,” Bacon, of Post Falls, said Tuesday. “They’ve never done that before. That told me that something bad was coming.”

Bacon went to work sewing fabric face masks she calls “better than nothing” masks to protect others like herself with fragile immune systems.

“I have a health condition,” she said. “I can’t even get the common cold or I’ll get really sick, so this virus is really scary.”

She started making masks for loved ones and close friends, then she expanded her efforts to reach medical personnel throughout North Idaho and across the country.

“I learned that hospitals were starting to get short on supplies,” Bacon said. “I was watching the news with concerns from different countries and different places talking about how the coronavirus hadn’t even hit where they were yet.”

She left messages for health officials in Washington, D.C., suggesting that if 1 million people make 100 masks, “that would be a game-changer.” Soon after receiving an email telling her it was a great suggestion, the 100 Million Mask Challenge was launched.

“I was like, ‘That’s kind of a coincidence,’” Bacon said.

Bacon has made more than 1,100 masks and continues to crank them out each day. She has joined forces with others in the community, including Post Falls mom Abbi Henderson and the ladies of the Mica Flats Grange lady’s club, to mass produce more masks and get them into the hands of those who need them, for free.

“I just want to save people,” Bacon said. “I want them to feel good that they can be safe. It’s better than nothing. Nobody wants to get sick.”

Henderson fired up her sewing machines just after the hospital announced the need for masks. She’s made about 400 masks, and her husband, Nick, learned to sew for the effort and made his first mask Monday night.

“I believe it makes a difference,” Henderson said. “I keep my germs, you keep yours.”

Henderson is serving as a point person for this group and can be reached at 755-8233.

The 3Cs (Cancer and Community Charities) is sailing along in mask orders. Rhonda Newton and her Crafty Crew are selling the masks for $10 each and continuing to donate to frontline personnel in the area. They’re asking for patience as they work to fill the need.

To place an order with 3Cs, send an email to craftycrew208@gmail.com and include: Name, phone number and quantity of masks needed (masks are adult size, indicate if it’s for a child).

Also include the location to pick up the mask, Coeur d’Alene or Post Falls area.

It is also asked that customers pay prior to pick up or at the time of pick up by check made payable to “3Cs.”

More people of every age and ability are jumping in to help the mask shortage.

At Orchard Ridge Senior Living in Post Falls, residents have set up their own social distancing manufacturing center in what was their bingo room.

“Our ‘mask-makers’ are constructing these masks for our residents for now, with hopes to make two per resident so there is always coverage when a mask is being washed,” said Orchard executive director Ann Johnson. “With approximately 160 residents, they are hoping to make over 300 masks.”

In Post Falls, small business owner Karen Erickson of Sewinjeanius, 614 E. Seltice Way, is converting her sew shop into a mass production facility. She has been converting pet bandanas into masks and is continuing to sell masks for donations of $7 to $10 for basic ones and $12 to $15 for masks with nose wires. Proceeds will go back into the community as well as support advertising, shipping, handling and other costs.

Erickson needs volunteers.

“There’s no sewing involved,” she said. “It’s strictly cutout and assembly.”

Text Erickson at 509-979-9088.