Sew Grateful winds up after producing over 3,300 items of PPE

July 13, 2020 Community

The Sew Grateful team has called it a day – after making over 3,300 items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The volunteers started as a small group based on the Rosneath Peninsula making face masks but expanded to include more than 70 people, who so far have produced:

248 gowns
204 sets of scrubs
594 scrub bags
2081 masks
168 visors
50 mask extenders

The group has also raised over £7,000 via its Gofundmepage and plans to donate the surplus to an NHS charity.

**Sew Grateful’s final delivery was of scrubs, bags, masks and bunting for staff at Robin House Children’s Hospice in Balloch.**

Carol Anne Calder said she was ‘incredibly grateful’ to the team – some of whom do not know each other – as well as everyone who had donated supplies or money.

“I am astounded and forever thankful for what this incredible team have been able to achieve – now I just hope I get to meet some of them at some point!” she said.

“The heavy lifting has all been done by a truly incredible group of people across our peninsula and beyond.

“A team of upwards of 70 people at any one time, many of whom don’t even know one another/have never met, somehow (virtually) came together in the most difficult of circumstances to help provide PPE to local doctors, nurses, care homes, home carers and other frontline workers.

“They ordered materials, washed, cut, sewed, washed again and packaged an incredible number of items – and managed all the logistics for deliveries and pick ups to minimise physical contact and unnecessary travel, as well as the back room boys keeping track of our team finances and managing our team Facebook page and our Gofundme fundraising site.”

Carol Anne said the decision to wind up had been made because requests were tailing off as the government-provided PPE situation improved in Scotland, while people risked burnout after sewing full tilt for three and a half months.

The easing of lockdown also meant that some of the group had less availability because of work commitments.

” It just felt like the right time to stop, but everyone is committed to stepping back up if needed,” she added

“In the meantime, free masks will still be available from Cove Store and Kilcreggan Post Office, as we built up a big supply before we finished and still have some folks who will continue to make masks for at least the next few weeks.”