by Emily Miller, Austin Stake Communication Director
AUSTIN, Texas — Betsy Lowe worked in the hospitality industry, but unexpectedly lost her job in March after the SXSW festival was canceled. Lowe, of the Round Rock Texas Stake, found herself with extra time on her hands. Her reaction was, “I thought I could use my time to help other people.”
Lowe’s daughter is a nursing student at Brigham Young University. She told her mother of the dire shortage of personal protective equipment that healthcare providers are faced with during this time, so Lowe, who loves to sew, decided to use her fabric scraps to make a batch of several dozen face masks.
Once her scraps were gone, she posted in her online neighborhood group, soliciting donations of fabric and elastic, and her neighbors generously contributed.
Lowe has now made 250 masks, which she has donated to essential workers at healthcare organizations and to individuals who work with people who are at risk.
LeAnn Pressler of the Cedar Park Texas Stake also felt inspired to make and donate masks for those in need. She related, “I knew in the back of my mind that this really needed to be done to protect people and that the Lord is really counting on all of us to bring our resources and talents together to help each other.”
Pressler, with assistance from other Relief Society women, has made and donated more than 500 face masks for senior centers, pharmacies, hospitals, grocery stores and full-time missionaries. Even individuals who don’t know how to sew have joined in the effort — many have donated fabric and other supplies, while others help cut.
Shauna Hancock, stake Relief Society president for the Cedar Park Stake, observed that the recipients of the masks are so appreciative. To date, women in her stake have donated more than 1,500 masks — and they’re still sewing. Drawing upon Relief Society’s mandate to work in unity to help those in need, Hancock stated, “This is something we can do, and we should be doing it.”
Dana Willard of the Round Rock Texas East Stake has been blogging for ten years, creating sewing tutorials and videos to teach people how to sew. When the online community started talking about making face masks a few weeks ago, Willard wanted to use her skills as a sewing pattern designer to contribute. Willard created a simple, innovative, one-page pattern and accompanying how-to YouTube video, which she has freely shared.
Willard also had the idea to create a virtual bulletin board on Instagram, where people in need can request masks, and mask-makers can respond to those requests. Willard observed, “It was really cool to see the spirit of humans, total strangers, reaching out to each other.”
In addition, Willard has enlisted help from her family and has personally made 150 masks, which she donated to healthcare workers.
On Oct. 5, 1856, when President Brigham Young announced in a session of general conference that hundreds of handcart pioneers were stranded hundreds of miles away, the women of the Relief Society took immediate action. They “stripped off their petticoats, stockings, and every thing they could spare, right there in the Tabernacle, and piled [them] into the wagons to send to the Saints in the mountains.”
After that initial donation, those women continued to collect clothing and bedding to assist their brothers and sisters in need.
Like their Relief Society counterparts of 164 years ago, Austin area women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have responded immediately to an urgent need, and will continue serving as long as the need exists.