UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — During the chaos and uncertainty through the world's battle against COVID-19, people have performed acts of kindness to help our communities, front line and essential workers. Whether it be donating money or meals, people have all found a way to do their part to get through this unprecedented time.
Junior Ava Verdeflor has recently been helping her family make masks for hospitals in Texas to potentially use during the outbreak. Verdeflor's mother came up with the idea and involved Ava and her sister.
"My mom is the one who sews them, and my sister and I are cutting up the extra cloth," Verdeflor said. "Neither of us really know how to sew, so that's what my mom does."
The idea behind the masks was to make it a reusable one, so that instead of throwing it out after one use, it could be washed and used once again. It originally starting with making masks for Verdeflor's neighbor, who works at a local hospital. Her family has started to make more masks for friends, family and others to potentially use.
"We actually live right across the street from a hospital and one of our neighbors is a nurse," Verdeflor said. "I grew up with her and she's around my age but she excelled really quickly. She's our front door neighbor and my mom was telling me about how hospitals are running out of masks and stuff. This is a reusable one so you can put the mask inside and then just wash the cloth mask that we make so that you could reuse the masks."
Due to Verdeflor's Type I Diabetes, she has to be more aware than the average person. Even to get home to Texas was a nerve-wracking experience she was scared to embark on when the outbreak started.
Needing to be extra cautious, Verdeflor expressed how her mental health has also taken a toll on her, specifically her anxiety. The inability to know when people will be able to be reunited again has been difficult for her to feel calm.
"I usually know the next time I'm going to be able to do gymnastics or go into the gym, and I have no idea when that's going to be," Verdeflor said. "I usually know the next time that I'm going to see my boyfriend again. I have no idea when I'm going to see him again. So not knowing a lot of things is very stressful."
Yet through all of this, Verdeflor has been able to find things to keep occupied to take care of herself and her health - both physically and mentally. The masks have helped her not only to remain occupied, but to give back and do something for the most important people during this time.
"I think that it's important to do things for yourself," Verdeflor said. "I've been reading a lot and I bought my favorite book series, but with the masks it's not for yourself. It's for other people. It's for the most important people. They're the ones saving lives out there. If anything, we need to do everything that we can to protect them. So we might as well do something and help the people who are helping us."
