In the spirit of SJC’s mission to help others and serve its communities, staff members and students are creating handmade masks for the health care heroes on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19.
SJC Long Island student David Slager ’20, an accounting major pursuing his bachelor’s and master’s in St. Joseph’s five-year B.S./M.S. program, has been making masks with his family.
“So far, we have made about 100 masks and we plan to make 100 more,” said Slager, who is president of SJC Long Island’s Brothers and Sisters in Christ (BASIC) Club. “We’re part of an assembly line with other local families. My family is in charge of organizing the fabrics, pinning and prepping them for sewing. The next family will perform the sewing, and so on and so forth.”
The masks Slager and his family helped make have gone to staff at Stony Brook and Southampton hospitals.
As an artist and avid crafter, Claudia Mirzaali, the College’s assistant director for photography, joined JoAnn Fabrics’ Make to Give response, a nationwide initiative to make masks for medical personnel and first responders.
“Many crafters and sewing groups are making masks for hospitals and health care facilities,” Mirzaali said. “I felt that as a sewist and fabric artist, this was the perfect opportunity for me to give something back. It’s very rewarding to me. We’re all in this together, so I’ll just keep sewing until this crisis is over.”
Like Mirzaali, Mary Herold, an assistant dean at SJC Long Island, welcomed the opportunity to put her artistic abilities to use.
“An email went out to stitchers and quilters around the country asking those who sew to make masks for nursing homes, senior citizen centers and non-profit agencies who are begging for supplies,” Herold said. “I can’t save the world, but I can do my part right where I live on Long Island.”
