NE Tarrant County Cities’ Staff and Assisted Living Facilities receive nearly 1,000 donated, handmade PPE masks

Featured Photo: (Left to right) Gary Baughman, Kayleen Allen, Leslie Horn, and Nancy Coplen donating 120 masks to the City of Grapevine Assistant City Manager, Jennifer Hibbs, and Mona Quintanilla, Public Information Officer.

Helpful people all over the Metroplex have been donating their time, talents, and resources to aid essential workers and those at high risk of infection from COVID-19 this spring, and have felt a surge in purpose and joy in their own lives as a result. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colleyville, Southlake, Keller, and Grapevine joined together to produce over 900 masks for the community in just a few short weeks in April and May.

Twenty-six women of all ages, from mothers of young children to great-grandmothers, joined together in an effort to provide masks to city staff members in their respective cities, and then reached out to assisted living facilities in their communities to donate even more.

Kayleen Allen, an accomplished quilter and seamstress from Grapevine, explained that she has a room full of fabrics that she used for her mask-making effort.

“I wanted to help in any way that I can, and I have more fabric than I’ll ever be able to use quilting,” said Allen. “Friends and neighbors have donated fabric to me over the years, so I had plenty! I started making the masks for a fabric store that donated them to hospitals and senior centers. Then, Days for Girls, an organization I volunteer for, had a ‘Masks 4 Millions’ challenge that I took part in.”

Kayleen has spent hours sewing over 1200 masks and, originally, just placed them outside her home in a container for neighbors or anyone walking or driving by to take freely.

“Delivery drivers, people walking their dogs, all sorts of people needed masks in those early weeks of the lockdown. They would stop at my bin and take one or two! After everyone was encouraged to wear masks, I turned my efforts towards making masks for those who worked in essential businesses and the community. So far, I have made 1200 masks for the community and my neighborhood,” said Allen

Soon, through word-of-mouth platforms like NextDoor, Kayleen started to be known as “the mask lady,” and was contacted by the volunteer coordinator at The Gatehouse, an organization in Grapevine that helps women and children escaping crisis, with a request for masks. Kayleen soon had 70 masks ready for them. Then, they reached out with a need for 50 children’s masks, which Kayleen was also able to quickly provide. A friend had been helping out by cutting fabric for Kayleen, and she had some contacts at Baylor Hospital in Plano. They asked for masks as well. “Being able to do something that I enjoy like sewing to help others stay safe gives me joy,” Kayleen explains.

Nancy Coplen, a friend of Kayleen’s, former Colleyville City Councilwoman and Director of Communication for the Colleyville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was also sewing masks. “I had plenty of material to make the masks, but it was difficult to gather enough elastic for all of them. We carefully measured out the required length of elastic for each mask. Then, when JOANN finally got more rolls of elastic in stock, we excitedly purchased hundreds of yards and were able to quickly finish the project.” Friends and neighbors came through with their supplies, too, but soon she was running out of thread. “I couldn’t find any at the stores that were open,” Nancy says. “I decided to ask a neighbor, Aaron DeClerk, who is a professional costume designer. He gave me all the thread I needed and all the elastic he had! I felt fortunate and lucky to be able to call on him.”

Nancy assembled a substantial sewing team of over 25 women. Sarah Scheel, a young mother from Keller, assisted in the effort. Sarah explains, “When everything was starting to shut down, I just felt so bad for all of the business that had to close down and all the people that would lose their jobs. I felt sad about all the heartache that would come because of COVID-19. I kept thinking of the women who came together during the Depression and the World Wars and helped in whatever way they could. I wanted to be able to help as well. So, I dusted off my sewing machine and found whatever material I could.” Barbara Malmberg lent her sewing skills to the project as well. “I really liked to think about the people who might be wearing the mask and tried to choose fabric that they would feel comfortable wearing. I was grateful that my sewing skills could be put to use at such a unique time in our country,” Barbara said.

Nancy used her connections and reached out to the cities in which the church’s congregations meet. On Friday, April 24, Nancy and Gary Baughman, Just Serve Coordinator for the area, presented 250 masks to the City of Southlake Deputy Director of Human Resources, Chad Minter; and Assistant City Manager, Ben Thatcher. One week later, on May 1, Nancy; President Carlos Perez, second counselor in the Colleyville Stake Presidency; and Leslie Horn, Assistant Director of Communication for the stake; presented 200 masks to the City of Keller City Manager, Mark Hafner and Fire Chief David Jones. That same afternoon, 120 masks were presented to the City of Grapevine Assistant City Manager, Jennifer Hibbs and Mona Quintanilla, Public Information Officer. Kayleen Allen, Gary Baughman, Nancy Coplen and Leslie Horn presented these masks. Ms. Quintanilla said, “We truly appreciate this very generous donation!”

The committee agreed that they needed to reach out to the most vulnerable members of the community with an offer of masks, as well, and made and delivered 325 masks to the following assisted living facilities, to be used by staff and residents: Whitley Place (Keller), Solstice Senior Living (Grapevine), Grand Brook Memory Care (Grapevine), HarborChase (Southlake), Watermere (Southlake), and Ashford Hall Rehabilitation Center (Irving).

Sarah Scheel explained how she was blessed by her efforts to help others. “During those lonely days of quarantine, I felt like I could find hope as I lost myself in making these masks. I’m grateful I was able to find a way to contribute with so many other women from all walks of life.”

The following women were instrumental in making the 900-mask donations possible: Andrea Abbott, Kayleen Allen, Lorrie Anderson, Kathy Battershall, Nancy Coplen, Christa Cox, Marta Gage, Linda Giberson, Sharla Glassman, Chris Gottfredson, Lorri Grieco, Nancy Harrison, Carrie Jefferies, Stacy Lansford, Miriam Lee, Barbara Malmberg, Lisa Neely, Jennifer Oldroyd, Cheryl Orr, Cheryl Page, Sarah Scheel, Cheryl Searle, Janna Sorensen, Christine Sturgeon, Lindsay Walden, and Lynn Wannberg.

Photos by Leslie Horn