Support the Front Line Sewing Angels
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Our front line health workers lack the vital protective gear they need to stay safe while treating the sick. The Front Line Sewing Angels are a community of volunteers who are making masks and surgical caps to help address this critical need.
We kindly ask for your support to help us purchase supplies for our sewing volunteers, pay seamstresses to produce large orders of masks and surgical caps, and provide snacks and meals for the front line.
Our Impact
Since March 21, the Front Line Sewing Angels have made more than 35,000 masks and 7,500 scrub caps that have been distributed to more than 150 organizations including hospitals, medical facilities, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and shelters. A full list of these institutions is at the bottom of this page.
Our Story
JoAnn Gregoli always thought it was a happy coincidence she was connected to Rosie the Riveter through her son in-law Billy Boska, who is the grandson of Mary Doyle Keefe, who modeled for Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1943 painting. Little did JoAnn know, she herself would become a modern-day Rosie.
JoAnn has two children working on the front lines and learned from her daughter, a physician assistant, that healthcare workers lacked basic personal protective equipment (PPE) and weren’t prepared for the oncoming COVID-19 pandemic. As an international event planner, JoAnn’s first instinct was to start immediately organizing and mobilizing others to help make masks and then transport them to the hospitals where they were most needed. Because PPE is in such short supply, the hand-sewn masks are being used by doctors and nurses treating non-COVID-19 patients and as covers for N95 masks to increase their longevity.
JoAnn shared this GoFundMe page on her local community Facebook group in Sparta, NJ and the movement quickly took off. Her call to action inspired friends including her former client Christine Preston of Madison, NJ, who shared it on her own community pages. In less than a week, the two women had enlisted more than 150 volunteers to sew masks, cut fabric, and donate supplies of all kinds. The movement has spread to other New Jersey towns and now includes cooperatives in Bernardsville, Woodland Park, Morristown, and Harding Township.
Who We Are Supporting
Andover Subacute Center, Atlantic Mobile Health, Bayada Home Healthcare, Bayshore Medical Center (Hackensack), Brightview Senior Living and Hospice, Campassus Hospice, Christ Hospital (Jersey City), Daughters of Israel, Garden Terrace Nursing Home, Hackensack Hospital, Harbor, Holy Name Medical Center (Teaneck), Juniper Village Assisted Living, Lehigh Valley Medical Center (PA), Lyons Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Morristown Medical Center, Mt. Sinai Hospital (NYC), Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newton Medical Center, New York University Hospital, Overlook Medical Center, Pillar Continuum, Pine Acres Nursing Home, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, St. Barnabas Hospital, St. Clare’s Hospital (Denville), Summit Medical Group, Summit Medical Group Cancer Center, Sunrise Assisted Living, Trinitas Medical Center, Zufall Health.
#savealifemakeamask
#SewingAngels
We kindly ask for your support to help us purchase supplies for our sewing volunteers, pay seamstresses to produce large orders of masks and surgical caps, and provide snacks and meals for the front line.
Our Impact
Since March 21, the Front Line Sewing Angels have made more than 35,000 masks and 7,500 scrub caps that have been distributed to more than 150 organizations including hospitals, medical facilities, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and shelters. A full list of these institutions is at the bottom of this page.
Our Story
JoAnn Gregoli always thought it was a happy coincidence she was connected to Rosie the Riveter through her son in-law Billy Boska, who is the grandson of Mary Doyle Keefe, who modeled for Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1943 painting. Little did JoAnn know, she herself would become a modern-day Rosie.
JoAnn has two children working on the front lines and learned from her daughter, a physician assistant, that healthcare workers lacked basic personal protective equipment (PPE) and weren’t prepared for the oncoming COVID-19 pandemic. As an international event planner, JoAnn’s first instinct was to start immediately organizing and mobilizing others to help make masks and then transport them to the hospitals where they were most needed. Because PPE is in such short supply, the hand-sewn masks are being used by doctors and nurses treating non-COVID-19 patients and as covers for N95 masks to increase their longevity.
JoAnn shared this GoFundMe page on her local community Facebook group in Sparta, NJ and the movement quickly took off. Her call to action inspired friends including her former client Christine Preston of Madison, NJ, who shared it on her own community pages. In less than a week, the two women had enlisted more than 150 volunteers to sew masks, cut fabric, and donate supplies of all kinds. The movement has spread to other New Jersey towns and now includes cooperatives in Bernardsville, Woodland Park, Morristown, and Harding Township.
Who We Are Supporting
Andover Subacute Center, Atlantic Mobile Health, Bayada Home Healthcare, Bayshore Medical Center (Hackensack), Brightview Senior Living and Hospice, Campassus Hospice, Christ Hospital (Jersey City), Daughters of Israel, Garden Terrace Nursing Home, Hackensack Hospital, Harbor, Holy Name Medical Center (Teaneck), Juniper Village Assisted Living, Lehigh Valley Medical Center (PA), Lyons Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Morristown Medical Center, Mt. Sinai Hospital (NYC), Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newton Medical Center, New York University Hospital, Overlook Medical Center, Pillar Continuum, Pine Acres Nursing Home, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, St. Barnabas Hospital, St. Clare’s Hospital (Denville), Summit Medical Group, Summit Medical Group Cancer Center, Sunrise Assisted Living, Trinitas Medical Center, Zufall Health.
#savealifemakeamask
#SewingAngels
Organizer
JoAnn Ferraro Gregoli
Organizer
Ross Corner, NJ