ST. LOUIS, MO – Thousands of people in the St. Louis region are helping in the fight against COVID-19 by sewing hand-made fabric face masks for health care workers and first responders. 

A superstar among those volunteers is Tiffany Christie, 32, of Belleville, who has sewn and donated more than 2,100 masks since the beginning of April.

“I took a voluntary furlough from my job at the hospital to care for my husband at home,” said Tiffany, a mother of two. “I need to fill my time at home by helping others, and I do that making face masks.”

Tiffany, a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at St. Elizabeth Hospital in O’Fallon, Illinois, had already sewn and donated 400 masks when she agreed to fill a request by the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP) to provide 100 face masks for City of St. Louis police officers. She had the masks ready by the following afternoon. Tiffany then agreed to sew an additional 1,000 masks for the organization. She expects to complete those by April 27, her birthday, and will continue sewing as many as she can to help fill the need. 

“Thanks to Tiffany’s tireless efforts, we’ve been able to provide more than 1,200 masks for officers in the St. Louis City PD, St. Louis County PD, Ferguson PD, Deputy Marshals, Park Rangers, and Civilian Police Employees,” said Heather Taylor, president of ESOP. “We’ve also given masks to the unhoused and to CareSTL Health, which was running low on PPE and considering closing its doors for COVID-19 testing in an area that has the most local cases and deaths from the pandemic. The totality of just how many people Tiffany has helped is immeasurable. We hope others will consider donating to Tiffany, as we have. She is so appreciated.”

In lieu of birthday gifts, Tiffany is accepting donations at https://bit.ly/TCFaceMaskFund, so she can buy materials to make more face masks.

Tiffany is a member of the local Facebook group Masks for St. Louis, a group of volunteers making PPE for those on the front line of the pandemic. Greater St. Louis Million Mask Drive is another local Facebook group making face masks for healthcare workers and first responders.

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