WASHINGTON — High school athletes have been sidelined during this pandemic, but for a group of girls at a high school in Maryland, no sports means more time for community service. Their coach’s simple request turned their time at home into a mask-making mission of love.
"It’s kind of a labor of love and I want to make sure everyone’s safe, but when you know someone on the front lines, it makes it a little different," said Karen Kart, the effort's organizer.
Karen Kart is a volleyball coach at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland. Many of her former players are medical professionals and some reached out to her in need of masks. So, that kickstarted a project. She enlisted the help of the school’s field hockey coach, Kelly Massino, and they reached out to their student athletes.
Field hockey player Clare McDarby got involved early on and says, “I just think that it’s an easy way to help because a lot of people need a lot of help right now, and this is just a simple way to get into it and it’s fun!”
The coaches set up bins on their front porches for students to come pick up mask making materials.
For McDarby, it was an easy transition to make.
“Well my mom was already making masks for other hospitals, so when my coach reached out it was kind of perfect because we had some materials and some experience, and it was cool to my teammates being involved in it too," McDarby said.
McDarby's teammate Natalie Anderson said, “With the time I have off, I’ve been able to focus more time on service and making these masks.”
The masks will be distributed to area hospitals for nurses and other medical staff, but some will be given to children at children’s hospitals.
Anderson is focusing on making masks for children and hopes they "enjoy the patterns she's put together, and hopes that throughout these times, at least one thing can brighten their day.”
Even coaches are getting creative with their designs.
Massino, the field hockey coach, said, “So these ones were done with elastic which were really cool and then when I ran out, these were done with ribbons. They all had really great patterns, of chocolates and butterflies so we got a lot here.”
If you would like to donate mask making materials or make some of your own to donate, you can reach out to the coaches at Our Lady of Good Counsel.
- Coach Karen's email: Karen_B_Kart@mcpsmd.org
- Coach Kelly's email: Massino@olgchs.org