Scraps of fabric bound for the trash bin have become a valuable commodity for a cadre of neighbors united in one mission: creating face masks.

The troupe is comprised of women doing a variety of tasks to turn out the masks.

Retired Northwestern Lehigh school nurse Julie Bannar jumped on board when a friend, a retired oncology nurse, told her about Mask Force 2020, a group that was able to produce more than 7,000 masks for distribution.

Bannar began sewing and driving the masks to Coopersburg, but when she heard about a group closer to home, she had to join.

The urgency of providing masks for those on the front line was underscored after Bannar spoke to her son, Jordan Grube, a head and neck surgeon at the University Hospital at Rutgers, Newark, N.J.

Bannar was near tears upon hearing about the conditions in the hospital.

“They’re using the cafeteria to accommodate patients,” she said. “I had to send my first 25 masks to Jordan. They fit over the N-95 mask, so he gave them to his friends.”

Bannar is taking a practical approach to sewing the masks.

“I’m literally sewing them like a factory worker,” she explained, one after another in an assembly line. “I had two neighbors cutting for me, Bev Hand-werk and Janine Teixeira.”

At times, Bannar said she even enlisted the help of her husband.

Calamity struck when her decades old sewing machine quit.

Deb Matey jumped to the rescue, lending her daughter’s sewing machine to the cause.

Bannar said all the fabric she needed was also donated.

“Christa Eck gave me all this gorgeous fabric, tons and tons, that she had collected over the years or purchased at yard sales.”

The homemade masks have been donated to the Dialysis Center, the Visiting Nurses and KidsPeace.

With the completion of 225 masks to date, there’s no end in sight.

“I’m going to keep sewing until people say they have what they need,” Bannar said.

The group, known as the Masked Tigers on Facebook, was the brainstorm of Northwestern Lehigh High School sophomore Kourtney Keim who originally just wanted to donate her Girl Scout Cookies as a thank you to those fighting COVID-19, according to her mother, Theresa.

The leap from cookies to face masks led to a mother-daughter team combining forces.

“We both sew and because I’ve had kids in all different age groups, I know a lot of people,” Theresa Keim said. “There are people who are sewing who never sewed before in their life.

“People who don’t sew, help with the transfer of masks.”

The work takes time.

“Between contacting people, packaging and delivering masks and material, and making masks, I probably spend at least 50 hours a week on this project,” Kourtney Keim said. “The number of people who are willing to contribute their time and materials is still mind-boggling to me.”

“Since we have to stay physically apart from friends and neighbors during this time, being able to work together and support one another is more important than ever.”

So many neighbors have heeded the call,

“Cathy Masetti has been very helpful in helping to get things started and in encouraging volunteers,” Theresa Keim said.

Masetti has sewn more than 500 masks.

“Jan Rausch is our MacGyver,” she continued. “She sews and helps fix sewing machines, rewinds thread from large spools onto spools usable on normal machines, reworks our pattern to simplify it, and repairs some masks. She also sewed more than 500 masks.”

People like Mickey Tapper and Janel Semmel have sewn tons, Theresa Keim said.

Others, like Molly Brown and Anna Maria Shah, had never sewn before but learned so they could help.

Another essential link in this supply chain is the delivery of the final product. That’s where Christy Bishop comes in.

“I go to Lynnport and I drive local, too. I’m the New Tripoli driver,” she said. “On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I have to make six stops where I pick up masks.”

But driving is not Bishop’s only job.

“I source material,” she explained. “I have a load of material which I could distribute, depending on need and I cut fabric for masks. When I meet Theresa at New Life for the next set of exchange, I give her masks and she gives me whatever I need.“

New Life Church is the final destination where Bishop meets Theresa Keim.

“The production kind of ebbs and flows,” Bishop said, “but I usually have a great big bag from my pickup.”

Elastic has been in short supply, but Keim and Bishop have been able to provide it to those sewing when they need it.

“I think there are about 200 people in our little group,” Bishop said. “We’ve been doing this since the middle of March. It’s incredible what this group has done.”

“This project has definitely shown me how far a little bit of kindness and energy can go, as well as how amazing people can be when they come together and work toward a common goal,” Kourtney Keim said.

According to Bishop, demand for the masks remains steady.

“The hospitals are still asking for them to protect a whole range of people like technicians, for example, she said. “They have to use their N-95 masks for five days. Our masks make them last longer.”

In addition to coordinated efforts, some individuals have taken the challenge into their own hands.

Jan Pavelco of Orefield started sewing face masks after her neighbor asked if she would do it, knowing she had designed and sold numerous aprons through her company, Inspired Apron.

“I’m dipping into my mom’s sewing closet,” she said. “My mom worked in a sewing factory and she would bring home balls of elastic and spools of thread which I threw into my sewing closet, wondering if I would ever need them.”

Now those materials are being put to good use.

“Our mothers went through the Great Depression and using these items is a real connection to my mom,” she added.

“Gee mom, Pavelco thought to herself, thanks. You’re really helping me out.

“I had all this extra material from sewing my aprons and often wondered ‘Why did I save all of these scraps?’”

Little did Pavelco know she would be using them to help folks fight a pandemic.

Pavelco has completed close to 200 masks, donating many of them to St. Luke’s Hospice.

“I know people who are nurses or who have daughters who are nurses,” Pavelco said. “So when people request a face mask, I’m glad to comply.”

Sewing the masks is a link to normal times for Pavelco.

“Each one is like a memory trip recalling all the aprons I’ve sewn in the past. Now, when people order an apron, I include a face mask,” she concluded.