In a recent interview, I got to speak with Brittany Zetting, whose mother, Denease Stevens, has been making medical masks to help combat the shortages that America is dealing within the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whenever I spoke with Brittany, her mom had made over 1000 masks in a week in a half.
When describing to me how Denease started making masks, Brittany explained that the idea started as a joke when Brittany sent her mom a link to the CDC guidelines for mask-making. By the next morning, over 70 of them had been made.
Brittany made sure to clarify that all of the masks have been donated to people that have wanted them, and Denease has not asked for any money from the project. Once the masks had been made, Brittany made a post on Facebook asking if anyone wanted a mask, and the response made it immediately apparent that there was a large demand for these masks.
When I asked how Brittany was distributing them to people, she told me that she typically delivers them to people, usually by placing the masks into their mailbox. She has made deliveries to places including Portsmouth Urgent Care and Minford Fire Department.
At one point, Denease was starting to run out of supplies. Brittany posted about the lack of supplies on Facebook, and she said that she immediately received messages from people giving her money to buy more materials.
Denease Stevens is a shining example of the community outreach that we should all be compelled to perform in these trying times. Not only is she helping her community by providing these masks, but she is also saving lives.