Deschutes Maskers: Welcome and Join

Deschutes Maskers

New Deschutes County, OR Volunteer Group to Sew and Distribute Fabric Face Masks

Greetings! We are two Bend residents, Barb Cummings and Kate Rumelt. We are trying to encourage other sewers like ourselves to make and donate reusable, fabric face masks to groups in our beloved Deschutes County, who are particularly threatened by COVID-19.

Accompanying posts provide the materials list, the downloadable pattern for the Deschutes Masker face mask, and sewing instructions. Another post addresses why we have chosen this pattern.

You are certainly welcome, and in fact encouraged, to use the information and pattern provided to make masks for your own family and friends.

However, the focus of Deschutes Maskers is to make and distribute free, washable and hence reusable, fabric masks to those in need of them outside of our personal circles. Eligible recipients would include, for example, medical personnel, elderly people living in retirement or other group communities, care centers, and delivery and retail employees (who are out and about daily seeing to our needs).

We’ve all heard about the nationwide shortage of disposable manufactured face masks, such as the pleated surgical mask and the N95 respirator. It turns out that sewers in numerous areas of the USA already have started addressing this shortage by sewing fabric face masks for their communities. We are hoping that you will join with us in starting a volunteer movement to do the same here.

In initiating the Deschutes Maskers, we invite anyone in our county to participate, who wants to make a useful volunteer contribution. We especially are looking for people or businesses who will donate their time and/or materials-on-hand, to sewing or distributing reusable fabric face masks. Please use the comments section below to let us know of your willingness to participate, what you can do, and where you are in the county.

We also would like to hear from those individuals or groups in need, who would like to receive these masks. The main requirement is that the masks actually be used!

Our view is that wearing a fabric mask—especially a brightly-colored, cheery one—is a good way to communicate love for our community and our defiance against this terrible virus.

Finally, we owe a very special thanks to Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair, without whose enthusiastic support and help, the “Maskers” probably wouldn’t have taken shape.