Boston City Councilor joins local sewers working together to stitch thousands of masks

BOSTON — A grassroots effort is sewing up a storm to help meet the mandate for everyone to wear masks in Massachusetts.

The group called the Boston Area Mask Initiative is made up of hundreds of sewers. Together they have made nearly 20,000 since the stay-at-home advisory went into place.

Some sewers work into the night making masks. A Boston City Council member and self-professed sewing aficionado is among them.

“We all need masks. Any bit I can do [to help], I am happy to do,” said Annissa Essaibi-George. “I love to sew.”

Essaibi-George and her friend, Karen Foley, have made many of them at her sewing shop called The Stitch House in Dorchester.

“Here at The Stich House I’ve been able to do about 4,000 masks,” Essaibi-George said. “As a group we’ve done close to 18-or-19,000 masks.”

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They are part of the Boston Area Mask Initiative whose sewers have been very busy. Much of the material Essaibi-George uses is her own.

She has donated some of her masks to first responders, but for others she asks for donations for a cause close to her heart. It’s called Winter Walk Boston.

“They support programs across the city that are working to end family homelessness in particular. We are asking for a $5 donation for each mask,” she said.

Essaibi-George hoped to raise a few hundred dollars with her masks but has far surpassed that now closing in on $10,000.

And with masks now mandatory, Essaibi-George acknowledges she’ll be sewing, donating and raising money for a while. And she’s fine with that.

“How great it is to give something to someone that they need at this time that can keep them safe, that can keep others in their lives safe,” she said.

Like many of us Essaibi-George thought the impacts of the virus would last a couple of weeks. A friend joked she’d be making masks in May. With masks mandatory as of May 6 she’s now adopted the #makingmasksinMay as a badge of honor.

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