Ruth Dennison was having a restless night. Dennison, a retired oncology nurse, was bothered by news reports about mounting cases of COVID-19 and the lack of PPE (personal protective
equipment) at health care facilities. “I was scared to death that my colleagues and friends and cancer patients were going to die needlessly,” she says. She logged onto Facebook and put up a post, inquiring if anyone would join her in sewing masks for those who needed them the most. “I had no clue what I got myself into,” Dennison says. Within 48 hours, more than 1,000 people had volunteered to join the cause, and Mask Force 2020 was born. “It turned into a ball of fire,” says Dennison.
Dennison runs the operation along with Joan Zachary, who handles the business side of things. Many others have stepped up to help make the mission a success, including JOANN Fabrics, which donated 600 pounds of fabric, and Northampton Community College, which allowed the use of the Fab Lab to create kits for sewers to make the masks. Within just six weeks, Dennison estimates that Mask Force 2020 churned out more than 18,500 masks. They've been distributed to local hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers across the Lehigh Valley and beyond. “It's the community that did this,” says Dennison. “It's every woman, man and family.”
Dennison says her mother was among the women who went to work at Bethlehem Steel to keep the mills moving during World War II. Making sure that “Rosie the Riveter” spirit perseveres now is something that's important to her. “I'm just proud to be part of such a huge project,” she says. “I know we saved lives.”
