Please visit our How to get started page to begin!

We offer many resources that will help new groups in the tri-state area (NY, CT, NJ) to form and match up with  volunteers in their area. Information from our volunteer signups are automatically sorted by group and shared as a spreadsheet with group coordinators, so that they can get started right away. 

We also provide existing groups with the tools to continue recruiting members from within their geographic community but outside of their regular networks.

Also, we are working on a more efficient way of matching up needs with groups; stay posted!

Please visit our partner site, Hack The Pandemic

As you probably know, our first responders don’t have enough protective gear, and the CDC has also asked that everybody wear a mask when out in public.  In order to fulfill the sudden tremendous need for masks, we need to get as many people as possible making masks!  So this website exists to help educate volunteers, help new sewing groups form fast, and connect institutional requests with the groups.

  I’ll list the types of problems we’re trying to solve.

Problem: Medical providers being swamped by a pile of 1,000 envelopes holding a few masks each.

Solution: Volunteer group leaders will claim responsibility for collecting large batches of properly made masks and delivering them to the facility in need.

Problem: Volunteers sending too many masks, or the wrong pattern masks.

Solution: The Current Needs page will provide a central place where volunteers can find information about how masks are needed,  what patterns and materials are acceptable to medical providers.

Problem:  Busy medical staff being peppered with questions by the public eager to help but not knowing what to do.

Solution:  The Needs Form is quick for medical personnel to fill out, and automatically creates a blog post on the Current Needs page. Contact info and delivery information will be made available to volunteer group leaders, who will liaise with the medical facility.

Volunteers can visit the Current Needs page to see what help is needed and what patterns are accepted. Patterns and materials info will be available here.  Volunteer leaders will be responsible for answering their questions and delivery.

Problem: Volunteers looking for groups, leaders looking for help.

Solution: Filling out the Volunteers Form will help identify clusters of people to work together. We will aid hospitals in recruiting community leaders to coordinate volunteers in their area to sewing masks.

Problem: Volunteer leaders having to compile dozens of emails of people who can sew but don’t have machines, people who have machines but can’t sew, people offering to drive, etc.

Solution: Sharing and filling out the Volunteers Form will make the process more efficient. We can deliver a spreadsheet with the info at the end of every day or two to regional leaders, so they can spend more time coordinating and sewing.

If you’re an individual hoping to sew and drop off masks directly to a hospital, this is not for you.  We are trying to reduce the burden on hospitals of having hundreds of people dropping off small quantities, asking questions, etc.

Also, if you are an individual who wants a mask for personal use, please do NOT post on the Needs form at this time. Doing so will clutter up our Currents need page so that the needs of hospitals and providers may not get seen.  But DO reach out to friends, family, or the community and ask them to make you masks using the patterns we provide. We also have links to no-sew masks made out of a t-shirt and a coffee filter.

This page will provide a centralized place to collect and check information about what is needed by whom.  It will automatically create a blog post about need, which will be published once reviewed. Volunteers and volunteer leaders coming to this site will be able to see your need. They can contact you or a volunteer leader to claim batches of work.  

The Volunteers page will help compile a spreadsheet of volunteer info to make it easier on organizers to keep track of who can do what.  Currently it is set up only for volunteers in Larchmont and Mamaroneck, but we hope to expand its utility soon.