by Luke Schmaltz
At the onset of 2020, Samantha Donen had it made. She had recently graduated from Metro State University with a Bachelor of Science in industrial design. After completing four years of intense study, she had also won several prestigious design contest awards including first place in the Community Veggie Box Denver Botanic Gardens Contest, first place in the Clean River Design Challenge, sponsored by Greenway Foundations and the City of Denver, as well as the 2020 Impact Award from MSU Denver. She has also designed a dog harness called “Wag” and an ergonomic desk for children dubbed “Little Butts.”
As February crept into March, however, it became apparent that an industry frozen from the impending COVID-19 shutdown was putting a serious damper on her dreams. Sam was set to kick off her career as an exhibit designer, when over 650 trade shows across multiple industries were shut down by COVID-19 restrictions. By April, it was clear that pursuit of her design career would have to be put on hold, as the pandemic had other ideas for the economy and for society in general. “Pursuing my passion in a year riddled with anxiety was not an easy thing to do,” she recalls. “”I had to realize,” she continues, “that it was not personal — this was happening to everybody.”
A Hero’s Journey
Despondent but not deterred, Donen sought guidance from a local leader by the name of Rabbi Yossi — a figure known for his outreach work with the Jewish community the world over. He encouraged Sam to follow her chosen path no matter the obstacles — citing the parable of Noah’s Ark as a compelling example of design work rendered in a challenging time.
Inspired to press on, Donen began noticing the repeating news items about the severe lack of readily available personal protective equipment (PPE) — not just for medical workers, but for the average citizen as well. She did a bit of digging and discovered Make4Covid.co — a nonprofit organization dedicated to making masks and delivering them to as many hospital workers and everyday citizens as possible.
Donen reached out to Dan Griner, the Design and Clinical Testing Lead for Make4Covid, and after a four-hour Zoom meeting she was welcomed into the fold. She then teamed up with Lance Ferguson, the Soft Goods Industrial Designer. The two were tasked with curating a database of all the mask designs floating about the internet and coming up with one universal design which was effective, comfortable, easy for beginners to sew and great for experts to mass produce.
Off To The Races, Onto The Faces
Thirty days later, after several prototypes and tests, they had created the perfect design along with a “how to” video to boot — complete with captions, examples and narrated instructions. Donen then found a way to become further involved, “Since I live in the Denver/Aurora area, I offered to be a ‘hub captain’ — so people drop off and pick up at my place every Sunday — with all COVID-19 precautions in place, of course.” A typical Sunday will have folks who are donating materials dropping off, people dropping off batches of completed masks, and organizations in need of masks picking up requested orders.
Although her professional career was still on hold, Donen quickly discovered that she was gaining valuable experience not only as a designer, but as a coordinator, an administrator and a team leader. “Where I could have become isolated (due to COVID-19 shutdown) I was actually becoming more and more connected to people in my industry.”
“This is a big organization,” Donen explains, “with a marketing team, lawyers, clinical testers, shipping departments, request receiving departments and a lot more.” Ever the driven innovator, Donen then created a child-sized version of the Make4Covid model with a “cord lock” for the ear straps and an overall smaller design.
An Inspiring Perspective
Thus far, Make4Covid has sewn and distributed over 20,000 masks for COVID-19 prevention in the Denver area and more than 50,000 overall. Donen’s design is an open source model available to anyone and everyone who wants and/or needs to make masks. Currently, there is a network of volunteers making masks for family, for professionals in their personal circle and even as a way to make a few bucks — which is perfect for those who have lost work due to the shutdown.
Donen offers some words of wisdom after her first year in the private sector: “Anyone still struggling with ‘what’s next’ or ‘what do I do’ since their careers may have been interrupted — I encourage you to reach out and see where your skills can be used. You can still have a purpose and make a difference and maybe even become part of an organization of like-minded people. Before you give up, seek guidance from someone who can offer an outside perspective.”
The Story Of A “Sewist”
Somewhere along the way, the Make4Covid mask-sewing volunteers were given the nickname of “Sewists” — a term of endearment, no doubt, for folks donating their time and effort for the greater good. One such volunteer is Sammie Hamilton, a longtime friend of Samantha Donen who was drawn into the Make4Covid movement through Donen’s enthusiasm and gung-ho attitude. “She is this driving force — she really inspired me,” recalls Hamilton, an experienced jeweler skilled in the mediums of copper, silver and brass. “I dusted off an old sewing machine, looked at the directions and got to work — and I don’t even sew!” Sammie and husband Tate are long-standing stalwarts of the Denver arts and music scene. “One thing we have learned is adaptability. That’s a hallmark of the art world.”
Hamilton sews masks nearly every day, donating anywhere from 25 to 50 per week and even making a few on the side to sell where and when she can simply through word of mouth — no website, no Twitter account, no Instagram — just by reaching out to other people personally. She sees her involvement in Make4Covid as a silver lining of sorts: “She [Donen] challenged me in a very soft, very quiet way … and that’s what has kept me going from April until now.”
Enter The “Stitch Ninjas”
Meanwhile, by mid-March 2020, another Denver group had surfaced with a similar directive. The Denver Mask Task Force was started by Amanda Glen, who saw the need for PPE and drew inspiration from her mother’s quilting group on Facebook. Volunteers making masks for medical professionals were dubbed “Stitch Ninjas” and can currently order a sew kit at denvermask taskforce.com and get started asap. Currently, the group is run by Sara Spery and volunteer partner Amy Perlman. Thus far, Spery reports having donated 42,000 masks to medical providers.
The group launched with a small grant of 10K and a slew of donated start-up materials. A local arts and crafts supplier, Fancy Tiger Crafts, (59 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203) heard about the Denver Mask Task Force and reached out to help by sharing their network of fabric and textile manufacturers for soliciting donations. “One of the coolest things from this experience” Spery attests, “is that it has given people’s lives purpose and meaning, whether it is an elderly person who can’t leave home who is sewing masks or a person with a car who is delivering them.”
The company’s business model is a hybrid concept, with the directive of donating time, materials and finished products to the medical field while marketing high-quality, breathable, washable, reusable masks to the general public. An inspiring effort indeed, to see a new business forming rather than another one shutting down. “I was in it from the get-go,” Spery continues, “I was bored, I had nothing to do — so I had nothing to lose.”