'MY MASK
PROTECTS YOU;
YOUR MASK
PROTECTS ME.'
Jerseymasks4all, a local Facebook group set up by Petra Leggett and Lindi
Lawrenson, has helped hundreds of islanders obtain masks during this pandemic.
Sophie Wilkinson spoke to Petra about the group and how it all started.
Hi Petra, you are the co-founder of the Facebook
group Jersey masks4all, can you tell me how it
all started?
At the end of the March I set up a Facebook page,
Jersey masks, it was very quickly full of people
desperate for masks. Initially, I just wanted to
connect mask makers with those in need of a
mask, but that was impossible at the beginning.
We had such a high demand for masks and not
enough sewers. Being from the Czech Republic
and watching the benefits of mask-wearing I was
motivated to run a page that helps Jersey people
too.
At the beginning of April, I had a call from a
lady called Lindi Lawrenson. She is the wife of a
Paediatric at the hospital who posted one of the
first online videos in Jersey, educating people
about the importance of wearing masks and the
evidence behind it. (The video can be found on
Youtube: https://youtu.be/vo5XIQlaFSA)
Lindi asked if I’d be interested in joining my Facebook
page and her evidence videos and research and work together.
I said yes immediately and we agreed to create a new
Facebook group called Jerseymasks4all, which was inspired
by the already created Facebook group called Masks4All with
a headline: My mask protects you; your mask protects me.
Who’s involved in making the masks?
I was never going to be the sewer as I had no knowledge
Petra Leggett
of sewing and didn't have material or a machine. Lindi was
already sewing for the frontline workers. Once I started the
Facebook page, a kind lady called Jane Woodrow got in
touch and offered her sewing machine for the time of mask
making, little did I know she has now gifted the machine
to me, which is beyond generous and I am ever so grateful.
We then created a post asking people to help us with sewing
and quite quickly established a great team of about 30 sewers
willing to donate their masks for free.
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