Face Masks for Food ...

Like most of you ... I've been making masks for the past week. 

I made a few to donate to a Seattle-area medical system.  When they said they had enough, I made them for family and dear friends. 

And when the CDC said that face masks were recommended, I started making them to sell in my store. 

But that didn't feel right ... I felt like I was taking advantage of a tragedy ... which just felt icky. 

But then I hit on it.  I am now selling them in my Etsy shop.  I am donating 25% of the purchase price (or $3.75 per mask) to the local food bank in my small community in western Washington.  Further, I am also making masks to donate to the food bank for their clients who can't afford to purchase a face mask.

This Friday I will be selling them for a week, and my goal is to donate $500 and 50 masks.  Currently, I have raised just over $400 and have 23 of the 50 masks made to donate!  So I am on track!

When I called the Director of the food bank last week to tell her what I was doing and ask if she would be able to take the donated masks if I put each of them in a zip-lock bag, she was so overwhelmed that we were both in tears by the time I got off the phone.

A friend of mine volunteered at a Seattle food bank today ... this was her post on Facebook tonight:

Today's dose of perspective brought to you by my shift at the Ballard Food Bank. They've had to switch to drive through and delivery only, meaning clients can no longer "shop" for what they need. A household of 1 - 2 people gets one bag of non-perishable and one bag of fresh food/produce to last a week. My job today was to fill the non-perishable bags. This is what each contained:

• bottle of coconut water
• can of fruit
• can of salmon
• can of beans
• can of crushed tomatoes
• bag of rice
• bag of lentils
• bag of oats
• bag of pitted prunes
• one "extra" from the miscellaneous stockpile...this could be a bottle of ketchup, a can of sweetened condensed milk, a box of gelatin...most often it looked like all the stuff leftover from people's holiday baking and not particularly practical.

If you are a couple and eat 3 meals a day, that's 42 meals that need to be covered, at least in part, by this bag. I can be honest and say in my very privileged house this wouldn't last that long.


Full transparency, we have long been intermittent supporters of our local food banks.  Giving each year, but periodically, not habitually. 

Watching the news over the past several days, hearing that local food banks have provided 2 to 3X the amount of food in the past 4 weeks as they usually do in an ENTIRE YEAR, it is clear that the need in our communities right now is inprecedented.

Sure, I would love you to purchase a mask from my shop to support my food bank ... but what I would really prefer is that those of you who are able, contact your local food bank and find out how you can help.

I leave you with a smile with a photo of my adorable cousin and her husband.

Stay safe out there!




Lisa
#wegotthis