Chicagoland

Two area Catholics give back by making protein packs, face masks

By Joyce Duriga | Editor
Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Two area Catholics give back by making protein packs, face masks

Catholics all over Chicago are trying to help during the COVID-19 pandemic by sewing masks and distributing snack packs for medical workers.
St. Thomas the Apostle student Darius Mason assembles packages of protein snacks on his front porch May 2, 2020. He gives the packs to emergency room workers at area hospitals. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Sister of Christian Charity Maria Martin Nguyen sews a face mask at Sacred Heart Convent in Wilmette. (Photo provided)

When Darius Mason, a seventh grader at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Hyde Park, learned his extended family members were making masks for essential workers, he jumped right in to help even though he didn’t know how to sew.

“When we told him the reason for sewing the masks, he was adamant about doing it,” explained his mother, Cikea Mason.

His parents purchased fabric and elastics and gave him instructions on how to put a mask together, his mother said. Together, he and his cousins made 400 masks that they donated to the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, where members of their family work. The donations also included instructions on how to wash and care for the masks.

In return for his generosity, Darius received some monetary donations, but he didn’t keep the money for himself. 

“He decided to take his donation money and go back and give again,” Cikea Mason said.

Darius came up with the idea to put together protein packs for people working in emergency rooms at area hospitals.

“He wanted to make sure that the people who worked in the emergency rooms were keeping their energy levels up,” Cikea Mason said.

Darius researched which non-perishable snacks would be best for energy and they purchased those.

He then wrote a letter to go in the small gift bags with the snacks.

“It basically said essential workers are a necessity and he wanted to thank them for their participation in working during this time and that they keep up their energy,” Cikea Mason said. 

They gave their first protein packs to staff members at Little Company of Mary and St. Bernard Hospitals and are planning more donations to other hospitals, including some of the smaller hospitals where workers may not receive the same recognition as the larger ones, she said.

Cikea Mason said she and her husband are proud of their son’s passion for giving to others.

“It shows that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do as parents,” she said 

Darius is proud to be able to do it too, he said.

“I did this because I felt that some people in the world have tried their best and they are doing so many things for the world itself,” Darius said. “Right now, we’re in a fight against an invisible assailant and we are trying to not only fight but win against this invisible assailant. I understand that not many people may have the money to always be buying masks.”

Another person quietly working away to provide masks to essential workers is Sister of Christian Charity Maria Martin Nguyen, who lives at Sacred Heart Convent in Wilmette.

The convent is home to sisters who need nursing and assisted care along with those who are independent. So far, she’s sewn over 400 masks.

“I gave these to our workers here at Sacred Heart Convent, the sisters, my friends and friend’s friends, nurses’ friends, the nursing home, priests, doctors’ offices and the local funeral home,” said Sister Maria Martin, who before the shutdown regularly took Communion to people who were homebound or in hospitals.

At the suggestion of one of the nurses who works at the convent, she has started making protective clothing in case a sister contracts COVID-19.

While Sister Maria Martin has been sewing since she was in her teens, she learned how to make the masks from a YouTube video and then adjusted the technique to make it go faster, she said.

“The first week I sewed the mask, it took me about 15 to 20 minutes to finish one mask,” she said. “After that, I fixed the pattern a little bit so I was able to sew faster. Now I sew and finish one mask in 10 to 12 minutes.”

Helping others while sheltering in place in her convent is all part of being a woman religious, she said.

“I believe that I can’t do the big thing, but I can do the little things that can help people to be safe and happy just like our foundress, Blessed Pauline von Mallanckrodt,” Sister Maria Martin said.

Topics:

  • coronavirus

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