BUFFALO, N.Y. — Alaska is more than 4,000 miles from Buffalo, but people in some of the most remote villages there are now feeling the love from the Queen City thanks to care packages full of homemade masks.
At the height of the pandemic, a Facebook group formed to connect people who wanted to help the Western New York community by making masks. At the time, personal protective equipment, or PPE, was hard to come by.
Community Sourced PPE — Operation Sewing Squad made and delivered tens of thousands of masks.
"Groups of us got together. Some people we knew. Some we didn't know, but it was men and women across Western New York. We made and donated over 41,000 masks to various organizations. Hospitals, frontline workers, nursing homes, law enforcement," said group co-founder Deanna Douglas-Knapp.
Once that need was filled, they moved on to make masks for teachers and students.
"During the summer, we knew schools were going to be opening, and we wanted to help the schools. Then we started looking at all the local schools [and making sure they] had masks for the teachers and the kids so they could start school. If a child forgot a mask, they would have those available," said Douglas-Knapp.
As PPE became more readily available, the group slowed their efforts. Their Facebook page remained active and was still gaining more followers from across the country.
In the fall, a New York City doctor saw what the local group had done and reached out to see if they would be willing to help people in her home state of Alaska.
Dr. Reem Sheikh moved from Saudia Arabia to Alaska when she was 12. She went to school there, and her family still lives there.
"Alaska has a special part of my heart. I grew up in rural Alaska," said Sheikh.
Sheikh was part of efforts to source PPE for hospitals and the New York City community during the height of the shortage.
She said the Western New York group didn't hesitate for a second and offered to help complete strangers thousands of miles away.
So once again, mask production ramped up.
"This group has been amazing, beyond amazing. Selflessly working day and night, getting masks for kids and adults, elderly and shipping them out there," said Sheikh.
To date, the group has made and shipped more than 8,000 masks for people in Alaska who don't have access to healthcare or PPE.
"We've helped about 35 villages at this point. They're hours, an airplane ride away to the nearest healthcare facility. Not even a hospital. Just even a clinic, so the need is very much out there," said Sheikh.
In addition to a lack of healthcare or difficult getting care, Sheikh said there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation when it comes to COVID. She believes that's helping to worsen the spread. Also, traditional families are large and live together in close quarters, so if one person gets sick, the virus can spread easily.
"Operation Sewing Squad" volunteers their time, and members donate their own money for materials and shipping. They do no accept cash donations, but they will accept donations of fabric and other mask-making materials.
You can contact them on their Facebook page if you would like to help out.
They regularly post pictures of the adults and children who are wearing their homemade masks.
Group members say they will continue to sew as long as there's a need.
"These people are just in tears that somebody cares enough to send them masks to be able to save their family members. That to me is what this is all about," said Douglas-Knapp.
