Denver Mask Task Force Extends Generosity To Navajo Nation

DENVER (CBS4) - A Colorado couple made the long drive to Arizona on Wednesday to drop off hundreds of homemade face masks to the Navajo Nation, a current coronavirus hot spot.
Each mask was made somewhere in the Denver metro area by the Denver Mask Task Force, a group of volunteer sewers that started organizing on Facebook in March.

The group began with the idea of making masks for frontline workers, and has since sent them to about 100 different organizations.

Volunteers call themselves "Stitch Ninjas," because while hospitals were bringing in protective equipment through more official channels early on, Glenn's volunteers imagined themselves "coming in all the back doors to make sure that everybody could have a mask."

"We've grown to over 1,500 volunteers on our Facebook page. We've donated over 11,000 masks," said Amanda Glenn, one of the group's organizers.

Recently, Lloyd Chavez, a task force volunteer, called Glenn and inquired about making masks for the Navajo Nation.

Spanning three states, and home to roughly 170,000 people, the nation now has more coronavirus cases per capita than any state in America, CBS reports. Doctors without borders recently dispatched a team of medical professionals to the area, and tribal leaders have imposed strict curfews, where residents could face arrest if they don't stay home.

Within a week of Chavez's request, the task force put together a package containing 500 masks. On Wednesday, Chavez, and his wife, Cindy, started the nine-hour drive to Chinle, Arizona to drop off 500 masks. The couple dropped off the package just before 5 p.m.

"There's not a lot resources that make it to reservations around the country," Chavez said. "They're kind of put on the back burner."

Recently, the task force's capacity to fill orders has increased, since it started offering pre-cut kits to volunteers. The priority continues to be serving local entities that employ medical professionals and first responders, but Glenn said most of those orders have been filled.

Now, the task force is looking for where else there may be a need for non-medical grade face masks, including non-profit organizations and vulnerable populations.

"Each week it's just kind of rising to the occasion of what folks are reaching out and trying to pivot and continue to meet the needs and protect those who aren't protected," Glenn said. "I'm just so incredibly inspired by the generosity of so many strangers. It's been this incredibly magic experience where everything we ask for just shows up."

The delivery to the Navajo Nation is just the first of several donations of its kind. Glenn tells CBS4 that "stitch ninjas" are working on filling orders for tribes in other states.

"Kudos to all of the wonderful sewers around Denver and the Denver Metro Area that worked so hard for such a wonderful cause," said Chavez.

If you are interested in volunteering or donating to the group, you can find it on Facebook or denvermasktaskforce.com.