The LGBTQ community steps up to help fight COVID-19.

Masks for Legacy

Melissa Grove, executive director of Legacy Counseling Center and Legacy Founders Cottage, said that as the COVID-19 epidemic descended on North Texas, the community has responded wholeheartedly, making sure that the agency has the masks it needs.

Frances Stinnett sent a number of masks, and a bunch have shown up in the mail, Grove said. Another Legacy supporter said she knew the agency was going to need masks, so she started making them. She made 42 masks that have pieces for heater/ac filters donated by Home Depot inside the help increase efficiency. She asked to remain anonymous.

Fashion designer Parker Parker

Fashion designer Parker Parker has also contributed (see story this page).

Grove said that because homeless shelters are “hotbeds for COVID-19,” Legacy is trying to get people out of the shelters as quickly as possible and into safer housing. Jim Windler donated two sofas to help furnish an apartment for them, and the crew from AVSD Pro AudioVisual delivered them.

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Fashion Designer Parker Parker:

I come from nothing, or maybe it’s that I come from something but not the kind of something you want to come from. I grew up moving from family to family … to family … never really knowing where I would end up, and never really having anyone to care for or love me entirely.

Then when I was 21, I had my daughter, my every reason for living. Her father died, and I had to do what I could to give my daughter a better quality of life. So I taught myself to sew for her. I never wanted her to wear “rags” like I had to.

Over the years we have seen more hardships than most people. But despite all that we have been through, we chose to be people that never let life take our joy or our love. Through the years, no matter where our lives were at, I have always tried to be there for others the way I have always wanted others to be there for us. Now, that means making protective masks for our frontline heroes in the hospitals.

My career as a fashion designer has come to a complete halt. But I had $1,500 saved up and decided to use that money to buy what I could to make

masks for our doctors, nurses and others who are in high risk of this virus — at absolutely no charge to them.
I didn’t want to just create any mask though. I put a lot of thought and consideration into the construction of the masks, which include two layers of cotton and a middle layer of stabilizer — three layers of protection, plus a pocket inside to hold more protective layers and wire around the nose part so the mask can be more form-fitting and thus, more effective.

I also wanted to let all our frontline heroes know how much of heroes they really are. So I started to putting “HERO” on the front of the masks. I like to think that maybe the patients that see someone walking toward wearing a mask that says “HERO” will get just a little bit of comfort from it, and that those wearing these masks will feel appreciated and loved by others.

I wrote “Psalms 91:3-7” in small print just below “HERO.” This is a scripture I read nightly with my daughter that says: “He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.”

I have spoken this verse over every mask I have made, and I have prayed deeply for protection, comfort and healing for all of these beautiful heroes on the frontline. I know to some it may seem silly, but in this crazy world we are in now, who couldn’t use just a little morejoy, love and protection — just one more little miracle.

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Joe Pacetti of Joe Pacetti Jewelry and Michelle Henderson of Loro Lino Fine Linens

 

Funny how this whole mask thing started. My dear friend Michelle Henderson, the custom tabletop and bed linen designer with Loro Lino, and I check in daily on the telephone. She called me early last week as I was on one of my exciting outings — going to the Tom Thumb grocery store! Never in my life, with more than 9,000,000 traveled miles on American Airlines alone, did I think a trip to the grocery store could be so exciting and something to so look forward to!

The first thing she asked me was if I had on a mask and gloves. I admitted that I did not and that, honestly, didn’t even have either at the house. After giving me a motherly scolding, Michelle insisted on meeting me in the parking lot and giving me one of her custom-made masks. Her seamstresses are making them, and they are donating them to charities and those in need.

So I submitted and let her bring me one of her beautiful Egyptian cotton white masks and a pair of hot pink gloves. Now, how GAY do they look?! And into the Tom Thumb I went. No one in the store recognized me even though I’ve been shopping there for 37 years, and many of them are very long time employees. I had to speak to them by name before they knew who I was!

“Wow!” I thought. “Besides protecting you, this mask really does conceal who you are!”

Actually, I’ve been totally void of jewelry for the last few weeks. So this is definitely my low-key look.

After that, I was thrilled to donate to the GoFundMe account that Michelle has set up to help pay for the masks. I love the positive outreach everyone is showing one another during these stressful times.

When Michelle and I met for a photo to demonstrate how to properly wear a mask — completely covering your nose and mouth — we also demonstrated proper social distancing six feet. (We both talked about how we’ve been directing our clients to our websites for their shopping needs. Thank God for UPS and Federal Express for shipping both of our merchandise to clients who can do “retail therapy” from the comfort of their homes!)

Now as stylish as it is, this mask thing is only a temporary look for me, because every time I breathe whilst wearing the mask, my glasses fog up!

I’m sure we are all looking forward to returning to all of our “normal” lives!

The Medical Masks for Dallas COVID-19 Support Go Fund Me page is at GoFundMe.com/f/surgical-masks-for-dallas-covid-support.