New London 4-H student makes 700 masks for health care workers and local community members

NEW LONDON - For Kaitlyn Lee, a rising-sophomore at New London High School, making and donating face masks was about focusing on what she could do to help fight the coronavirus.

Since mid-March, alongside her sister, Megan, and mother, Denise, Lee has helped assemble over 700 face masks for health care workers and vulnerable residents in and around southeast Iowa.

'I got involved because my cousin is training to be a registered nurse and he was talking about how they needed masks in his field,” Lee explained.

The student's goal started out simple - make masks to help St. Lukes, the hospital her cousin was working at - but quickly morphed into something more when she learned about the 4-H face mask challenge.

Erin Heaton, the 4-H Youth Coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Extension Office in Henry County, said the youth program started a statewide challenge, encouraging 4-Hers from Iowa to help make face masks. As of last Friday, clubs from across the state have donated 28,133 masks, Heaton reported.

'[Kaitlyn] and her family really contributed to that count, and totally exceeded what was expected,” Heaton said.

Lee quickly reached her goal of sending masks to St. Lukes and has now also donated to Henry County Public Health, the University of Iowa hospital as well as her local library, the H J Nugen Public Library in New London.

'We're continuing to make them. It was something to do during quarantine,” Lee said.

The Lees, who make an approved style of face coverings called Olsen masks, usually hunker down and create an assembly-line to maximize efficiency.

'I enjoy doing the pinning because I can watch T.V. as I'm doing it,” Lee said. Each mask usually takes about 15 minutes to assemble, something the family has achieved through trial and error.

'It was a whole new experience. I had never sewn and my mom isn't the greatest either. We literally found it online and tried to follow it. The process of learning it has helped,” the high schooler said.

In addition to making masks to help health care workers, the New London family has also made masks to fit kids of all ages.

'I think it's important to do something to help during this. We've heard how scary it is and we're not on the front lines, but we're doing something to help,” Lee added.

As front-line workers continue to work through the pandemic, Lee and her family also will continue to make masks to help. Currently, the family has no plans to stop making them any time soon.

'I want to make more still. It's crazy looking at all the people we've helped and places our masks have gone. It's surreal,” Lee said.