Mask-Wearing for your Community AND Yourself
Earlier this week the CDC published a scientific brief stating that mask-wearing benefits others, as well as the mask-wearer. We at Masks4Missions are thrilled that the CDC has extended their statement to include how wearing masks helps you. By offering both personal protection and reducing community spread of COVID-19, masks are a powerful tool in our collective toolbox. So many of you have been essential in Vermont’s ability to keep spikes in cases at a minimum, and we take our hats off to you (while keeping our masks on)!
Please keep wearing those Masks4Missions masks to keep your community and yourself safe while supporting our hard-working nonprofit partners!
Doing Good in the Neighborhood
One month after the launch of Vermont Mask Day, I had the great opportunity to reflect on the work the team and I have been doing through a conversation with The Peak Radio for their Doing Good in the Neighborhood segment.
It seems like ages ago I was still considering a “lemonade stand” idea for a mask fundraiser, and I’m so grateful for all the support and energy from our nonprofit partners, our student social media ambassadors, and everyone else who saw the far-reaching potential of that idea and expanded it to Masks4Missions. We’ve distributed over 25,000 masks across the state and are producing over 50 custom mask designs that all support our local nonprofits and institutions.
“It takes a village” is a cliché but it’s true. As much as I’ve been delighted to be at the helm of this initiative, this metaphorical plane would’ve never taken off without the dedication and countless hours of all of our committee partners. Doing good in the neighborhood is and continues to be a personal goal of mine. Through Masks4Missions and the past few months, it’s clear that when it expands to a community project, the positive impact is exponential.
Burlington City Arts “Make ‘n Take”
Burlington City Arts, one of our core partners, is collaborating with Brattleboro Art Museum and the Rutland Carving and Sculpture Studio today to host two “make n take” mask events. Open to the public, these family-friendly events will feature DIY masks and marker kits for folks to design and color masks that they can then proudly wear and take home. Teaching artists will be present to promote not just masks but also the value of art and creativity. We’re eager to see young mask designers’ creations and will be sharing them on our Instagram. Take a look and we hope it will inspire more creativity in your lives!
Show us your masks!
Our social media platforms are buzzing with activity from you and Vermonters across the state. Masks4Missions is hosting a social media contest with prizes for the best mask design and for the best post promoting mask use in Vermont. We are impressed by the quality and creativity of the posts and touched by all the masked faces of our community represented in these images! A Gold, Silver, and Bronze winner for each of the two contests will be announced at the pre-show of tomorrow’s Grace Potter concert. Keep showing us your masks and sending us posts on Instagram and Facebook. We love the energy!
Shoutout to the educators and the students
There’s been a huge outpour of support for Vermont Mask Week, and we are so thankful to all of you for your participation and enthusiasm around this new initiative! I wanted to write a special post to shout out all the educators and students who have taken it upon themselves to host and promote their own Mask Week events. In addition to Middlebury College, we had exciting mask-making events at Champlain College (with their beloved mascot Chauncey the Beaver¬), UVM, NVU-Lyndon, NVU-Johnson, and Vermont Law School. A few campuses even added special mask-themed twists to existing events! NVU-Lyndon hosted a mask-themed Trivia Night with questions about masks and the coronavirus, and will have a DIY-mask design table at their Friday Paint Night event. High schools all over the state have also hosted DIY-mask making events with the help of our fantastic team of student Social Media Ambassadors and dedicated high school nurses. Thank you for helping keep our schools safe and open this fall!
Paging Dr. Leahy and all interested parties!
As part of Vermont Mask Week, UVMC’s Dr. Tim Leahy will be speaking at multiple medical webinars hosted by Masks4Missions. Dr. Leahy has graciously offered his time to answer questions about COVID-19, masks, and how we can maintain connection with our friends and family as the season gets colder and we move indoors. These webinars are a result of the UVMC partnership work with the VT Department of Health and their extended partnership with Masks4Missions. More details will be shared soon on how to join the public medical webinar. In the meantime, it never hurts to do a refresher on mask safety! Here’s a link to the CDC’s mask guidelines.
Our Founding
Over the last week, word has started getting around.
I’ve started getting quite a few inquiries from other nonprofits in Vermont asking whether I could replicate with them what I did for Shelburne Farms. The answer I’ve given has of course been an enthusiastic “yes!” But considering operating at a larger scale than just Shelburne Farms means I’ll need to take a different approach.
To learn what tack we might take, I’ve spent the last week setting up meetings with some of the nonprofits that Shelburne Farms could provide me an introduction to: Vermont Community Foundation, Burlington City Arts, the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont, Vermont Foodbank, and the Greater Burlington YMCA.
Hello, World!
If you ask someone about their experience living through the coronavirus pandemic, you are likely to hear about the isolation they felt from their communities, the worries they had about their health, the uncertainty they were thrown into when it all started.
But chances are, at least in my experience, you’ll also hear more uplifting sentiments, too. People will tell you how they came together, quarantining with family they hadn’t spent real time with in years. They’ll reveal the choices they made to keep others safe, like staying home from a small wedding when they got a sore throat. And they’ll show you how they responded to these unexpected times, making something meaningful out of their days while everything around them was falling apart.
For me, the story is the same. I’ve felt lonely, scared, and uncertain about the future. But those feelings have been crowded out by others. The belief that although we are apart we can be together. The hope that my family, friends, and neighbors will be safe and healthy. The inspiration that helps us navigate change.