Agudelo ’20 Manages Classes and Mass-production of Free Protective Masks

When Eliana Agudelo ’20 discovered her best friend was about to pay an exorbitant price for a pair of fabric masks to keep herself and her mother safe—$15 each with the price increasing every few days as demand grew—she put her sewing skills to work to make masks not only for her friend, but for her community, at no charge.

“My mother taught me to sew at a young age, but I only used that skill for the occasional Halloween costume and making scrunchies for craft fairs,” said the Worcester native majoring in psychology with a studio art minor. Upset that someone would be profiting so greatly from those in need, Agudelo repurposed the materials she used to make her hair elastics for masks.

When Agudelo posted on Facebook that she would be making masks for anyone in need, she received a number of requests, including a friend who offered to connect her to someone from UMass Medical’s inpatient adolescent psych unit. Agudelo “jumped at the opportunity” to help, agreeing to make 200 masks in just one week, a significant undertaking for a student in her final semester of college who had just transitioned to temporary remote learning. “I’ve been working around the clock on masks and trying to fit schoolwork in as best I can. I’m staying up late and waking up early to make sure that I’m doing everything that needs to be done,” she explained.

Though the average mask takes a few minutes to make, it’s the prep work or measuring and cutting three layers of fabric—each side of the masks have a different pattern, with a flannel filter in between, “so that people know which side to put on their face to avoid contamination and exposure.” Agudelo said her parents help her with the prep work so she can focus on the sewing.  

After Agudelo completed the masks for UMass Medical, she began working on a batch of 100 masks for Open Sky Community Services, a nonprofit human service agency in Worcester, and has promised 150 masks a week to Seven Hills Foundation, a health and human services network that offers programming for children and adults with disabilities and life challenges throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Agudelo worked at Seven Hills as a part-time respite worker helping individuals with special needs. The organization offered her $3 a mask for a substantial donation they plan to make, and she hopes to seize the opportunity while still making masks at no charge for anyone else who needs one.  

“I’m not doing this for a profit,” she said, adding that UMass offered to pay for the masks but she didn’t “feel comfortable charging a solid price for people in need.” However, she has received fabric and elastic in addition to monetary donations, including from the UMass employee for the 200 she made, as well as from her brother and best friend. Agudelo said the money so far has gone to supplies, gas (she offers to drop off masks in mailboxes or to ship them to those who don’t live nearby), and “the occasional candy bar.”

“I’ve been making masks for anyone who asks, some people donate and some don’t, but that’s fine with me, I just want to make sure people are safe,” she said. Agudelo said she has made 111 masks and counting for community members in addition to the ones she has made for the various entities.

True to the spirit of the Assumption mission of serving others, Agudelo is extending her support to the Assumption and greater community; those in need of a mask can request one by sending to her an email.