SUNY Oswego's Facilities Services operation has stepped up to meet the community need for cloth masks, with volunteers in the process of making 1,600 masks.
"We have been making masks since the Governor sent out an appeal," said Mary DePentu, director of facilities services maintenance and operations. "David Raham of our upholstery operations initiated it."
The effort features 15 volunteers sewing, with others making early run to get supplies and cut material for the kits.
"The kits are made up of material, elastic and the pattern," DePentu said. "Each kit contains enough for four masks. The volunteers can pick up kits and drop off completed masks in a convenient location 24/7."
In addition, Kitty Macey and Judy McCabe of theatre department, as well as students in their sewing and costuming classes, are making CDC-approved masks for contribution to key audiences as well (see related Notes From Home story).
The campus-contributed masks first went to essential staff, including University Police, with the rest picked up for distribution to vital agencies by Pam Caraccioli, deputy to the president for external partnerships and economic development, via the Oswego County Emergency Management Office.
