密歇根新闻广播 制作口罩来提供公共服务

 

On a recent Saturday morning I sat down at my sewing machine. Normally I like to sew clothes, but lately I've been making cloth masks. I tapped into my mom’s seemingly endless supply of fabric¹ and so far I’ve made about 30 for family and friends.

“Everyone who sews has always secretly known that one day their stash² would save the world and that day is now,” says Saginaw resident Tami Davis.

Davis leads the Mid-Michigan Mask Makers³ group – also known as 4-M. In March, an online post about mask making got her attention.

“And one friend specifically who lives down in Washtenaw posted something about how she and her kids were sewing some masks because the hospitals were needing them,” she says. “And I thought, well, gosh, I could do that. I might have a little fabric here and a couple of sewing machines.”

Davis created a Facebook page. The group now has about 50 people making cloth masks. They’ve sewn about 13,000 in a couple months. The group donates masks to hospitals, nursing homes, and grocery stores.

Davis’ house in Saginaw has become the headquarters for all their work. These days she usually wakes up to pings on her phone of messages requesting fabric, elastic⁴, or other materials.

“My dining room is no longer a dining room,” she says. “It's now a fabric and mass distribution center. Home Depot⁵ donated us a shelf and that houses about maybe half the fabric and the rest is all in boxes.”

Davis refills supplies and collects finished masks from plastic bins⁶ set out around the Saginaw, Bay City and Midland area. The group donates masks locally, and Davis delivers those, too. In April, she drove around 900 miles.

Ironically, Davis is so busy coordinating⁷ that she hasn’t sewn any masks herself.

A lot of the supplies come from donations. A woman in Oregon sent the group 50 spools⁸ of elastic. One woman found vintage fabric in her stash that came from a store that hasn’t been around for decades.

“It's the idea of knowing that somebody had a connection to this fabric and bought it either because she liked it, usually because it was on sale,” Davis says. “That’s why she, usually she, bought it and now it's being repurposed.”

Saginaw resident Karen Taylor is an avid⁹ sewist. She had been planning to make a quilt for her camper, but that was put on hold when she joined 4-M and started making masks. Sewing is solo work, so she values the virtual sewing community.

“But, you know, there'll be days where I'll say, 'Geez, and my machine is jammed up. I've got to take it apart. I'm going to have to take a couple of days off,’” Taylor says. “And they're very supportive. You know, try this. Try that. Get mineral oil. Did it work? Karen, did you get it fixed¹⁰?”

Taylor’s cousin was in the hospital with COVID-19. Her daughter is a healthcare worker and her facility received a box of masks from 4-M that included some of her mom’s designs.

“As I'm sewing, I often think to myself, if of the five hundred I've made, if one saves somebody. I feel like Rosie the Riveter¹¹. I can't go to the hospital. I can't help out there, but I can certainly sew a mask or two,” she says.

Tami Davis says the demand for masks is changing. She’s seeing fewer requests from hospitals, but now 4-M is donating masks to funeral homes and food distribution centers.

“I can't say how long we'll be doing this, but we'll be doing it as long as we need to do it,” she says. “If the need changes, well, then we'll adapt.”

The Mid-Michigan Mask Makers group was created because of the coronavirus crisis, but now another crisis is affecting their work. Davis says flooding in the Midland and Saginaw areas has forced her to stop her usual pickups and deliveries, but members are still sewing if they can.

1 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

2 stash   

v.藏或贮存于一秘密处所；n.隐藏处

参考例句：

• Stash away both what you lost and gained,for life continues on.将得失深藏心底吧，为了那未来的生活。
• That's supposed to be in our private stash.这是我的私人珍藏。

3 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

5 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

6 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

7 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

8 spools   

n.（绕线、铁线、照相软片等的）管( spool的名词复数 )；络纱；纺纱机；绕圈轴工人v.把…绕到线轴上（或从线轴上绕下来）( spool的第三人称单数 )；假脱机（输出或输入）

参考例句：

• I bought three spools of thread at the store. 我在这个店里买了三轴线。 来自辞典例句
• How many spools of thread did you use? 你用了几轴线？ 来自辞典例句

9 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

10 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

11 riveter   

打铆机； 铆枪； 铆工

参考例句：

• The riveter riveted the metal sheets to the ship's bottom. 铆工把薄金属板铆在船底上。
• The experiment proved that the recoil force of the electromagnetic riveter has reduced greatly. 通过试验表明，优化后铆枪的后坐力明显减小。