Thursday, April 09, 2020

Leftover Scraps From the AIDS Memorial Quilt Are Now Being Used to Make Coronavirus Masks


This touching story comes from People magazine:

Gert McMullin has been with the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt from almost the very beginning.

The idea originated during a candlelight vigil in 1985, when activist Cleve Jones asked friends to write the names of loved ones who had died from AIDS on placards. Upon seeing the posters all taped to a wall, he got the idea for a quilt. Given that at the time many men who died of AIDS were not able to even have a funeral due to stigma, he realized a quilt could also function as a memorial.

In early April, the National AIDS Memorial was going to display the quilt, to celebrate the 48,000 panels -- as Jones and McMullin put it -- “coming home.” The ongoing coronavirus pandemic put those plans on hold.

Around the same time, McMullin began feeling echoes of the past -- and symptoms of PTSD. She knew just what to do. She returned to her sewing machine. McMullin started sewing masks.

Her masks are made from leftover scraps of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. They are being used at facilities run by Bay Area Community Services, which serves the homeless and people suffering from addiction. The face masks are helping both employees and residents. They are also helping McMullin.

“During the AIDS crisis, I could go and do something,” she says. “But now, I can’t. I’m not sued to sitting around and helping people.”

Keep reading HERE.


1 comment:

Jack said...

Great story.