We are So Grateful for the Masks!

With the help of many people, families, groups, and companies, May Institute was the grateful recipient of more than 3,000 masks in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic!

The outpouring of support over those early weeks and months was amazing. We were doing everything possible to stock masks and other protective personal equipment for our residential programs, but those items were in incredibly high demand everywhere. Cloth masks were one way to help us be as prepared as possible for potential shortages.

We got the word out through social media that were were accepting donations of sewn face masks, and the donations started pouring in.

So many of you are anonymous, but here is a partial list of the people and companies that were so generous, especially in those early days when masks were hard to find:

• Lisa Monahan, Boomerang Bags, Newton, Mass
• Making Masks in Norwood group, Norwood, Mass.
• Masks4Meds, Plymouth, Mass
• Sam Shih, 9Tailors, Boston, Mass.
• Steele Canvas Basket Corp, Chelsea, Mass.
• Boston Area Mask Initiative, Boston, Mass.
• Florida Mask Makers Group
• Wiley Co.
• Liliana Adams
• Edward Doheney
• Karin Page
• Serra Riley Langone
• Joanne Furey
• Anna Koshelev
• Tom and Mariele Adams

A special shout-out to May staff Sarah Weddle, Cynthia Anderson, and Ryan Martin, and the team of staff from around Massachusetts who showed up at the Randolph campus in those first weeks to sew, sew, sew!


Here's a shot of Jared Gentry, husband of Dr. Alice Shillingsburg at May, who immediately started cutting fabric templates when he heard there would be a staff sewing group gathering at the Randolph campus. One of so many examples of the generosity and creativity of our community.