Woman Makes and Donates Masks to Local Organizations

ZANESVILLE, OH – One woman is using her sewing skills to protect others from the Corona Virus.

Gretchen Eckelbarger started making masks at the beginning of the pandemic, since then she has developed 4 different styles of masks, including those that work for people with hearing aids.

“Well in the beginning a friend and I were talking and I wanted to do something, with the shut down of all the facilities and be helpful with people. And decided to make masks, my problem was I didn’t have fabric. This friend said I happen to have one yard of fabric and I have some elastic, I said great bring it to me. So she brought it down and one yard of fabric is what started all of this.”

At this point she has made well over 3,000 masks and has donated at least 1,500 masks to many different groups and organizations including the County Commissioners and the Dresden Fire Department.

“Lepi’s from Dresden donated the fabric to begin with and their fire department needed masks desperately right at the beginning when everybody couldn’t get a hold of a mask. So I made a lot of masks for the Dresden Fire Department and other places in Dresden. The commissioners in Zanesville needed masks and where they had them ordered they were swamped, so a small place like me I could fill the bill at that point.”

Eckelbarger says
wearing masks is very important and the act of making the masks is a
labor of love.