Community Stories

SEA-LECT PLASTICS

SEA-LECT Plastics, a plastic injection mold manufacturer in Everett known for its support of apprenticeships and its work with the state’s Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee, has taken up the Washington Mask Challenge. Of its own accord, SEA-LECT Plastics offered to manufacture 10,000 high-quality masks for community organizations in need in the Washington Mask Challenge network at no cost. Their outstanding work includes:

• Creating mask molds, filters, and ties;

• Managing the highly technical plastic injection-mold process;

• Facilitating employee volunteerism for the extra hours of mask production required; and

• Delivering masks.

SEA-LECT Plastics used the popular Montana Mask design to create its 10,000 plastic injection-mold masks, which use a filter of melt-blown plastic similar to those used in N95 masks.

PROVIDENCE INSTITUTE FOR A HEALTHIER COMMUNITY | SNOHOMISH COUNTY MASK BRIGADE

Providence Institute for a Healthier Community administers a number of PPE-related initiatives, including the Snohomish County Mask Brigade. The Mask Brigade is an independent operation that boasts a large volunteer base of mask makers and mask drivers, in its first two months successfully delivering over 10,000 masks to individuals in need.

The Washington Mask Challenge has partnered with the Snohomish County Mask Brigade on several local mask-related efforts, including the preparation, assembly, and delivery of 5,000 of SEA-LECT Plastic’s injection-mold masks.

The Snohomish County Mask Brigade has also agreed to serve as a central hub in the Snohomish County region of the Washington Mask Challenge network for facilitating mask donations and deliveries.

CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES

To deliver SEA-LECT Plastics’ injection mold masks, the Washington Mask Challenge then collaborated with Catholic Community Services, one of the largest non-profit providers in the state serving those struggling with poverty, as well as the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community, which runs the largest “mask brigade” operation in Snohomish County. With their help, the SEA-LECT Plastics masks are being sent to farmworkers in Skagit, Lewis, and Cowlitz Counties, as well as to other community organizations throughout the state.

From the beginning of the Mask Challenge, Catholic Community Services has helped spread the word about the importance of PPE in containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, and in particular has been a powerful and early advocate for prioritizing farmworkers’ access to masks. It is in part thanks to their videos below that the Washington Mask Challenge has touched the hearts of so many volunteers throughout the state.

UNIFIRST

In creating the Washington Mask Challenge, one of our primary goals was to get masks to organizations around the state who need them the most. Unfortunately, many of those organizations were unable to accept homemade masks directly due to concerns about sanitation.

That’s when the Mask Challenge decided to find a laundering service partner. A staffer with the Lt. Governor’s office used to work at a car dealership who had uniforms laundered by a company called UniFirst, and the decision to contact their company, along with several others, was made.

UniFirst, a large national laundry service company, was the first to respond from their Washington branch with an immediate and emphatic yes. They graciously offered to clean and sanitize as many masks as we could send them – free of charge. So far, UniFirst has cleaned and sanitized nearly 5,000 masks with more coming in every day. Their efforts have helped to make the Washington Mask Challenge a success. Thank you, UniFirst!

HELENA’S DRY CLEANERS

Part of the Mask Challenge’s work includes creating mask kits for students throughout the state. These mask kits were a community effort, with fabric donated by Michael’s Arts & Fabric, laser-cut by private volunteer Ken Smith, and washed by both UniFirst and Helena Cleaners. For masks that are already sewn, our partners at UniFirst Co. provide professional cleaning and processing services that leave masks in excellent condition, fully sanitized. For fabric that is not yet sewn, however, UniFirst’s robust cleaning service can be too heavy, and in some cases resulted in frayed or tangled fabric. To overcome this issue, the Washington Mask Challenge reached out to Helena’s Dry Cleaners for help. Helena’s Dry Cleaners immediately stepped up. Thanks to their efforts, which included their employees pitching in several volunteer hours over a period of several weeks processing, cleaning, and pressing the fabric, it could then safely be assembled into mask kits and sent to students.

MARY PAVIA

Mary Pavia from Skagit County is now an eight-time donor to the Washington Mask Challenge, with nearly 100 masks completed. Although she resides in Skagit County, Mary specifically asked to be matched with an organization in Yakima County, recognizing their urgent need for masks as they manage a serious COVID-19 outbreak. She has used her own material, her own funds to cover shipping costs, and applied her fabulous sewing skills to be a part of the solution. There are no limits to the number of masks you can donate to our challenge, and we encourage anyone who has the time to continue to donate if you have the means.  Thank you, Mary!

CITY OF SEATTLE | SEATTLE MASK BRIGADE & SEATTLE DIVISION OF CONSUMER PROTECTION

From the very beginning of the Washington Mask Challenge, the City of Seattle’s Mask Brigade, as well as its Consumer Protection Division, chose to work collaboratively with the Lt. Governors’ office to find innovative ways to serve workers in urgent need of masks. In particular, the Lt. Governors’ office and the City of Seattle entered into an innovative partnership to deliver hand-made masks, sanitized by UniFirst Co., to priority populations in King County in advance of and following city and state mandates for workers to wear masks.

Through this partnership, the City of Seattle has helped the Washington Mask Challenge deliver thousands of masks to people experiencing homelessness, refugee communities, non-profit organizations, and other workers throughout the city.

The City of Seattle Division of Consumer Protection has also generously allotted space in its Seattle warehouse for the Washington Mask Challenge, which has been critical for facilitating the delivery and assembly of masks and mask kits throughout the challenge.

CENTRO LATINO

Centro Latino is a community-based non-profit organization that has been providing educational and cultural programs, crisis intervention, and family outreach services for Latino and Indigenous Native communities in Washington state since the 1980s. It is also one of the first community partners in the Washington Mask Challenge network.

A month after the Washington Mask Program’s launch, Centro Latino and the Washington Mask Challenge joined forces to better serve families in Pierce County as well as farmworker communities throughout the state. 

Centro Latino has accepted fabric and other materials donated from the Washington Mask Challenge to organize socially-distanced community mask kit drives that have led to the creation of hundreds of masks for families in Pierce County.

Centro Latino has also provided translation services for the Washington Mask Challenge, including translating the mask sewing instructions which are available on the Washington Mask Challenge web page.

KAAS TAILORED

The filter material from SEA-LECT Plastics is manufactured in a large roll. To make mask assembly as easy as possible for mask recipients, Kaas Tailored, a local family-owned manufacturer in Mukilteo, stepped up to help cut the precious filter material.

Kaas Tailored is known in Washington State recently for transitioning much of its regular manufacturing, which is focused on upholstery and furniture design, to PPE production in partnership with Providence Health. For the Washington Mask Challenge, Kaas Tailored cut, organized, and mailed the melt-blown filter material to the Snohomish County Mask Brigade for distribution.

GATHERING FABRIC QUILT SHOP

In Woodinville, Susan Webster’s Gathering Fabric Quilt Shop rose to the Challenge early on. Gathering Fabric has not only served as a mask donation drop-off site, but also functioned as a community hub for a myriad of grassroots coronavirus response efforts. Like many sewing shops, Gathering Fabric plays a critical role in organizing local mask kit production, gathering and disseminating homemade face masks for organizations in need, and providing materials for PPE.

In addition to her own efforts to provide masks for Evergreen State Hospital healthcare workers and others, Susan and her team have collected and sorted over 1,300 beautiful handmade masks for the Washington Mask Challenge. Most recently, Susan shipped 1000 donated masks, including a large portion of children’s masks, to the Yakima County Emergency Operations Center.

JESSICA HANFORD