Royersford Woman's Masks 'Go Missing,' Love, Donations Come Back

ROYERSFORD, PA — When she learned to sew in Mrs. Brownback's middle school home economics class, Adrienne Gauger never imagined she'd be using that skill one day to make masks in a pandemic.

Today, she lives across from the same school building, in what is now the Spring-Ford 8th Grade Center. Her front yard is retail space, and she takes donations in a jar in exchange for the masks she sews.

She learned in "the good old days of bobbins on the bottom of the sewing machine." Once Gauger learned how to sew, she was unstoppable. "I made rat hammocks for my pet rats. I made dresses and aprons. I made things using patterns and things that I created myself," she said.

But over the years, she forgot how much she loved to sew. She'd been staying home to care for her young son for the last six years, caring for other children in her home, setting aside a career in healthcare. And then, COVID-19 happened, and everything changed.

"I remember watching the news reports as COVID-19 killed thousands of people. My sister, who is a nurse, and I, discussed our fears of COVID-19 making its way here," Gauger said.

Her son's school closed. He has special needs and asthma, so Gauger focused solely on him and assisting him with virtual learning once it began. She stopped caring for other kids in her home.

"We truly thought that despite our county being an early epicenter that it would be OK in a few weeks and that life would resume as normal," she said.

"I sat watching the news and seeing how bad things were in healthcare. I knew that my friends and family had no PPE. My sister is a nurse. My best friend is a physician's assistant," she said. "I cried."

"My daughter works in retail. Everyone I knew was in danger," Gauger said.

She started asking what, if anything, she could do. She asked herself, "What if I could make masks?"

She said she had a little bit of spare fabric on hand, and she owned a sewing machine. She also found some thread and some really old elastic. "I hadn't sewn in years, but it's like riding a bike, right?" she said.

She put word out on social media that she was going to try to make masks. Her cousin quickly volunteered to deliver some spare fabric that she happened to have. A high school friend and then a former coworker mailed some elastic.

"I found some patterns online, and I gave it a go," Gaugher said.

The first masks she made were far from perfect, she said.

"The elastic was short, because I conserved as much as possible so that I could help as many healthcare workers as possible. I gave masks away to anyone that asked. Former coworkers came for them in droves," she said.

But she discovered that she was helping.

"It made me feel so good to be able to do something!" she said. "I was able to help my healthcare family, and that mission is one of the highest callings I've ever answered. And they were so generous."

People would message her after grabbing masks off my porch to let me know that they had left me a donation. She said she doesn't talk much about it, but money is sometimes tight for her. "I will admit that I bought groceries one time with money that was donated

Gauger estimates she's made hundreds of masks. "I didn't keep track at the beginning, and I still don't."

As far as profit goes, by the time you factor in the cost of fabric, elastic, needles, pins, scissors, paper, thread, and time, there isn't much profit. But I do manage to make enough to keep buying thread, needles, fabric, and elastic," she said.

She's no longer making fabric masks just for healthcare workers. She makes them for everyone now, kids and adults, in different sizes.

A little mason jar that sits outside her house by the masks. "I go out and find a $5 bill here and there, and I go buy more supplies," she said.

"I am still helping people."

When we no longer need masks? Gauger says she might start making snake snuggling sacks for her pet snakes. Or maybe she'll try to make cage liners for guinea pigs or chinchillas.

"I'll definitely be sewing something," she said. "And I'm a bit addicted to fabric shopping at this point. I love it! I will find something to sew. Or it will find me."

Gauger also takes payments online when people contact her on social media.