How two sisters and a friend from out of town came together to make more than 10,000 masks to fight the coronavirus pandemic
By Carter Seaton
HQ 111 | AUTUMN 2020
While most of the Village of Barboursville was quietly self-isolating this past spring, the WV Quilt shop was a hub of mask-making activity. The quaint shop on Main Street, owned by Michele Hill, was busy doing its part to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
As a member of the Lesage Lions Club, Hill had been contacted by the United Way of the River Cities as part of its efforts to provide masks to the general public. With 8,000 yards of fabric she couldn’t sell, Hill was grateful for the project and the chance to help.
Hill began making masks on her own at a brisk pace, but as demand surged she decided to recruit some additional sewers. With the help of a small grant to purchase more material and elastic, she convinced her sister, Gloria Connick, to join the cause.
Next, fate intervened. Her friend Tammy Farrington, who lives in the Cayman Islands, just happened to be visiting when the nationwide shutdown began. As such, Farrington found herself stranded in Barboursville and decided to join in also.
The three women formed an assembly line: Hill sewed; Farrington turned the masks and ironed them; Connick put on the finishing touches. Orders began pouring in. Large corporations needed them for their employees; the United Way wanted to distribute them to other nonprofit organizations; and individuals began calling the shop seeking masks for their families.
The trio sewed masks by the hundreds for employees at FedEx, UPS, Steel of West Virginia, the Veterans Administration and more. The masks were either mailed to the businesses or picked up at the shop.
The three women all said they welcomed the project.
“It kept me in a safe place where I didn’t have to worry,” said Connick.
“By the time we passed the 6,000 mark we stopped counting,” noted Hill. “I’m sure we topped 10,000 masks when things finally started to slow down. It was hard work, but rewarding in so many ways.”
