LAWRENCE, Kan. — As schools in both Kansas and Missouri craft their back-to-school plans, others are raising their hand to help out in the effort.
For the Lawrence Public Schools District, that help is coming from a group of local quilters.
“As schools started to talk about reopening, I thought well the Lawrence Schools are going to probably need masks," retired teacher and avid quilter Kelley Stillings said.
She has been making masks - 2,000 at last count - with her local quilting group, Kaw Valley Quilters Guild. The Lawrence group has made more than 7,000 masks for health care workers and people who need them locally and all over the nation.
The guild wanted to make masks for one of their local high schools, but requests started to come in to help more than just that one school.
Now, the group is taking on a task that might seem impossible.
“We ended up deciding we would do the two high schools and the four middle schools. That is going to be about 6,400 masks," Stillings said.
Lawrence School District, along with other area schools 41 Action News spoke with, are buying masks for their students and staff through C.A.R.E.S. Act Funding.
In Lawrence, the mask donation from the guild is saving them money.
“It will keep us from having to restock on those masks if those students have those cloth masks that they can hold onto to," Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis said.
For schools like Blue Valley, who are not getting a donation like this, they have already ordered masks to keep students, teachers and staff members safe.
“We have 185,000 on order for disposable masks. So, that’s quite a big order," Blue Valley School District spokesperson Kristi McNerlin said.
McNerlin said finding masks at first was tough, but big distributors have come through.
“We are going be in a good place by the time school starts," McNerlin said.
For the Lawrence quilters, they know their district is buying masks. They just want to lighten the load.
“Right now, this is what needs the attention and the time. So, I am very willing to do this," Stillings said.
The guild is looking for people to help make masks. If you would like to help email Kelley Stillings at Kstillings@hotmail.com
