Kane County group makes masks to deliver to healthcare workers, nonprofit organizations

ST. CHARLES – As a retired nurse with 13 years of experience in intensive care unit and emergency room settings, St. Charles resident Christine Schirtzinger realizes the importance of protecting healthcare workers and first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, Schirtzinger launched the grassroots group Mask Up Kane County to make face masks for healthcare workers and several nonprofit organizations like Lazarus House homeless shelter in St. Charles, Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora and Mutual Ground, a domestic abuse treatment center in Aurora.

"It's really hard to sit on the sidelines when you know enough to know what's going on," Schirtzinger said.

The group has distributed more than 40,000 masks and is on track to hit the 60,0000-mark by the end of the month. Mask Up Kane County started out distributing the sewn masks volunteers had made.

In order to pass out even more masks, Schirtzinger decided to switch to no sew masks. Each “no sew” kit contains instructions and enough materials – car cloth material, paper clips, rubber bands and zip ties – to make 25 masks.

And one doesn't need any mask making experience to be a volunteer. A video on the website along with written instructions included in each kit show step by step how to make a mask.

Geneva resident Cheryl Rosentreter, a teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Aurora, is volunteering her time to make the masks. She has been part of the group since the beginning and has made more than 700 masks to date. She makes 50 masks a day.

"I thought it would be the perfect opportunity," Rosentreter said. "Christine is always somebody who has been very involved in the community and supporting those efforts for the people who need help the most. Her heart is in the right place, and therefore I was more than happy to help her out."

While more than 300 volunteers are part of the group, Mask Up Kane County is in need of more volunteers along with donations. In some cases, families are volunteering their time.

"There was one family that called me and they really wanted to make sure they could get kits before Easter because instead of doing eggs this year, they were making masks together as their family activity," Schirtzinger said.

Donations will go toward the costs of cloth towels, paper clips, zip ties, rubber bands, printed handouts and bags. Each mask costs 23 cents to make.

"It doesn't seem like that's much, but we are making 1,500 masks a day," Schirtzinger said. "That's thousands of dollars. It adds up quick."

Before being distributed, each mask goes through a two hour "pathogen free’" process in a 140+ degree sauna. Besides the people who make the masks, there also is a separate team of people who put together and distribute the mask making kits.

"There is sort of a place for everyone on the team," she said. "And that's what has made it such a great project. We can all be involved and use our time and our finances to really give back to our community."

Schirtzinger is just glad her group is able to help.

"It means so much to all of us involved to know that we can do something for others," she said. "It's really fulfilling on both sides."

More information is available at maskupkanecounty.org.