Students at Marietta Public Schools have been the recipients of over 150 masks, made by hand and with love by Carol Harris.
Harris, who’s 73 years young, has made three much-appreciated deliveries of about 50 masks per trip. And the impressive part: that’s just two day’s work for her.
Harris began making the masks when the pandemic began.
“There was such a need,” she said, “and they were so expensive it was hard for some people to afford them, so I started making them and giving them away.”
She had already given away more than 300 before she started making masks for the school.
“I had a poster up at the pharmacy telling people I would make masks, and if they could make a donation, I would accept it but it wasn’t necessary,” stated Harris.
Her original idea had been to get rid of some of the fabric she had, but because some people have given her fabric, she’s pretty sure that she has more now than when she started. She’s thankful for all those people who donated to the cause, whether it was fabric, elastic, or funds to buy more supplies.
“I have grandkids in school at Kingston, and when I found out that they weren’t having school because one of the lunch ladies had the virus, it came to me that those school kids need masks to keep them well,” she said. “There are a lot of kids whose parents can’t afford to go out and buy them a mask, and that’s a need I can do something about.”
Harris lives in the Fern Markwell Senior Housing Center, but her age doesn’t seem to slow her down at all.
“I’ve been blessed,” she explained, “and this gives me something to do to keep me out of trouble.”
Harris is currently working on a big bunch of masks to take to Kingston to help out there, and then she’ll be back to making more for Marietta’s kiddos, using fun, kid-friendly fabrics in cat, dinosaur, shark, and butterfly prints, to name just a few. The hope is that the fun prints will make kids more enthusiastic about wearing the masks.
She’s sewed all of her life, teaching sewing and doing it for the public. She even jokes that she might have to sell one of her kids, but she can’t live without her sewing machine.
Harris vows to keep up the good work as long as she’s able.
“I’ll keep going until I run out of fabric and elastic, or this pandemic ends,” Harris promised.
The school very much appreciates not only the masks, but the support that Ms. Harris gives the district.
“It takes a strong school community to weather times like these,” said Superintendent Brandi Naylor, “and we are so thankful to have Ms. Harris to step in and fill a need for so many of our students. We’re grateful for her kindness and help.