For volunteer, sewing masks is valued community service and therapy

When the COVID-19 stay at home orders began in March, Meg Hoenack knew she had to do something. Her daughter suggested that she sew face masks. Stores quickly ran out of elastic and other materials in the early months of the pandemic and locating needed supplies began to feel like a treasure hunt. Finding the right pattern and sewing prototypes of the styles of masks took a lot of time, but Meg’s extra effort helped her create the best possible masks.

Seeing a request from the Edina Fire Station for face masks, she sewed and donated 600 masks. Then she got to 1,000.

When George Floyd was killed, the world felt like a very precarious place and again, sewing offered Meg the comfort of knowing she could do something to help.

When the fire station stopped collecting masks, Meg placed a notice on the NextDoor social networking service offering to provide masks to others. Quinn Kitchen Miller, Park Nicollet’s Director, System Quality Improvement for Primary Care, reached out and told Meg that Park Nicollet Foundation would gratefully accept and share the masks with patients, visitors and staff. After Meg mentioned that her three children were born at Methodist Hospital, they realized that Quinn and Meg’s daughter had been friends in a church youth group years before.

Meg sewed and donated 400 masks to Park Nicollet Foundation.

“It felt good to be able to do something,” she said. “And it was a fun coincidence that Quinn and my daughter knew each other.”

That’s what community is. Offering help where we can and being connected in ways we may not even realize.

When you donate to our COVID-19 Response and Relief Fund, you’re supporting patients, families and our entire community. You’re also providing much needed safety equipment for care teams at our hospitals and clinics. These teams are working tirelessly to keep us all safe; your gifts are making that possible.