Cranbury residents are creating homemade masks to aid frontline personnel in the fight against coronavirus.
A group of 15 women have so far created roughly 400 cotton fabric masks and plan on making more during the ongoing pandemic, according to organizers.
“There is not really a set goal of masks to be made. We joined the efforts of the Mercer Mask Project, which was initiated by a group of volunteers in Mercer County,” said Ping Su, Cranbury group organizer. “We found this project on Facebook. We get the fabric to make the masks from the Mercer Mask Project.”
Su cuts the mask fabric into face covers and loops for the ears and distributes them to the rest of the group to create the masks.
“I take completed masks back to the Mercer Mask Project. Most of the supplies we get are from the project,” Su said. “When this whole pandemic started we were looking for a way to help. Once the we started realizing that hospitals needed help members of the Chinese American community in Cranbury started taking steps to aid the fight, one of the steps was creating the homemade masks to help those on the frontlines.”
They have been making homemade masks since March 25.
The Mercer Mask Project is a not-for-profit group of residents that prepare handmade face masks for medical professionals, patients and essential personnel. The group has also sent finished masks to Capital Health Medical Center, Princeton Medical Center and Robert Wood Johnson University hospitals. The masks are provided free of charge and the group has delivered more than 2,000 masks, according to Mercer Mask organizers.
Mercer Mask uses Facebook to connect with volunteers creating masks and to obtain donated cotton fabric. They have also raised funds online through a GoFundMe page, which allows for the project to purchase additional supplies.
“So many of the ladies volunteered immediately and were very eager to help from our group chats and social media. In our first weekend we delivered more than 200 masks to the project,” Su said.
Township Committeewoman Barbara Rogers said she sees this effort by as another example of volunteerism in Cranbury.
“This is another example of bringing the township together and helping those in need, while also helping to flatten the curve,” Rogers. “This is what makes Cranbury such a special place.”