A Community Unified
“I believe the stigma of wearing masks has changed in response to our current situation, and most people now realize it is not only a necessity to wear one, but socially responsible too.”
~ Nicole Morikawa
Mask-making project
March 2020
“I named this project “responsible. together.” because I believe these words embody the importance of being responsible not just to ourselves, but to each other.”
My project, “responsible. together.”, grew out of a desire to help our community by making fabric masks at the start of the pandemic. Although some cultures have always embraced mask-wearing as a means of protection, American society was not initially accustomed to the idea. I hoped by designing masks in appealing prints and colors, any reluctance to wearing one might dissipate. I believe this stigma has changed in response to our current situation, and most people now realize it is not only a necessity to wear a mask, but socially responsible too.
Through contacts in the New York apparel industry, I acquired donations of fabric and trim and recruited volunteers for sewing. I coordinated the fabric designs and helped to make the initial prototypes following CDC guidelines. Packages of cut fabric, wire, and elastic were sent to volunteer sewers, and so far, over 400 masks have been made and distributed to nursing homes, visiting nurses, and retirement communities in Connecticut and California, including The New Milford Visiting Nurse and Hospice, Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center, Noble Horizons Retirement Community, Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association, Sharon Health Care Center, and New Horizons Retirement Community. Masks were also donated to the chefs and owners at Wolfdale’s Cuisine in Tahoe, CA who prepared meals for The Restaurants Deliver: Home Meals for Seniors program.
While on a previous week-long community service trip to New Mexico, my group and I had the honor of staying with a Navajo host family for a few days. During our stay, we helped in the community center sorting donations of clothing, gardening, and learned how to make fry bread, a traditional Navajo food. This trip gave me the rare opportunity to experience and observe first-hand a small bit of Navajo life and culture. It was therefore, particularly important to me that I was able to donate some of my masks to the Navajo Nation of Arizona.
I wanted to donate masks to younger children as well, but felt a child may be reluctant to wear one and instead, view a mask with apprehension and fear rather than a symbol of safety. To help counter this perception, I made a tutorial video for children showing how to decorate a plain mask with animal faces and colorful designs. I shared the video and donated plain child-sized masks with fabric markers to The Children's Center of New Milford and The Education Center in New Milford, Connecticut.