Janne works with volunteers to make thousands of face masks
Following the announcement of the first lockdown, doing nothing was not an option for fashion designer Janne Mooij. She almost immediately came up with the idea to make face masks in her studio together with volunteers. In total they made more than 9,000 face masks for people and organisations that really needed them.
Janne: ‘Five thousand face masks in one week – that was my target and we did it! When I heard that a GP needed face masks I quickly went to get a 300-metre roll of material at a wholesaler and started making face masks in my studio. Fortunately, my inbox exploded almost immediately with the amount of people that wanted to help. My brother took material to those that were helping with sewing and my wife answered all the telephone calls. Yes, at first I worked from 9 o’clock in the morning until 1 o’clock at night. Luckily I am used to large orders. All face masks were taken free of charge to the various organisations in Amsterdam, including shelters for the homeless, hospices, care for the disabled and nursing homes, and psychiatric institutions. ‘You are bringing gold’, mental healthcare workers were telling us. Personally, I don’t consider what I was doing as anything special. It just seems obvious to offer my help. Wouldn’t everyone want to do the same? It also gave me lots of energy.’
You can find Janne’s initiative together with other wonderful initiatives on wijamsterdam.nl/initiatieven.
door Gemeente Amsterdam
Volgende verhalen
Mijn leven in coronatijd
Het Museumplein wordt schoongeveegd
Amsterdam, de lege stad 7 april 2020
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