The Bucket Brigade Academy (BBA) is a leadership training program for high school students interested…
Pandemic PPE Project!
Pandemic PPE Project 2020
A “Community Hero” Award-Winning Pandemic Crowdsourcing Project
In March of 2020, it became clear that wearing masks was vital to slowing the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, there was a global shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like N-95 Masks and other safety gear needed to fight the pandemic. Critical service workers such as nurses, emergency personnel as well as farm and food service workers did not have adequate access to masks. We recognized this emergency and decided to step into action. At the beginning of April, we created the “Most Mask Makers Challenge,” which invited volunteers with sewing experience to make cloth masks at home. These masks were to be freely distributed to essential service workers and other vulnerable communities upon request. In true Bucket Brigade style, we created an inclusive, reliable and efficient system to source, sew and distribute masks in the safest way possible.
The Result:
- More than 302 volunteers signed up to help sew masks, 154 volunteer mask-sorters and drivers were trained and deployed.
- In total, more than 41,247 masks were made and freely distributed to help communities in need remain safe and healthy.
- 30 Public agencies & nonprofit care centers received free mask donations.
The Bucket Brigade received a “Local Heroes” award from the Santa Barbara Independent for this innovative pandemic volunteer project in 2020.
Anatomy of a Bucket Brigade Project: A Step-by-Step of the Most Mask Maker Project
1
Masks were made of 100 percent tightly woven cotton for the face covering and elastic for the ear loops. Some of this material as donated to us, but we purchased most of it from suppliers in Southern California.
Bucket Brigade Captain Ana Fagan shops for fabric at Roxanne’s in Carpinteria.
2
We took the fabric to Santa Barbara County Jail, where inmates with the “Success Stories” program cut it into 12” strips for masks.
Santa Barbara County Jail inmates with the Success Stories program help by making and wearing masks.
3
Volunteer drivers delivered the fabric strips to Mission Linen for laundering.
Big thanks to Steve Hill (left) and Paul Nicholson and the crew at Mission Linen Supply for laundering our mask fabric.
4
In the Montecito Association conference room (located at the Montecito Library), the fabric and elastic was packaged in “Mask Making Kits.”
Bucket Brigade Captain Ana Fagan making kits.
5
Each mask-making kit included enough fabric and elastic to make 25 masks. An instruction sheet with a pattern was included in each kit.
One kit (pictured) contains enough fabric and elastic to make 25 masks.
6
When our mask makers completed masks for pickup and needed a delivery of more material, they filled out an online form.
Make masks, save lives!
7
On delivery days, mask-making kits were loaded into clean five-gallon buckets, based on the routes, and each bucket was assigned to a volunteer driver.
Keith Hamm likes his buckets organized.
Bucket Brigade volunteer driver Randy Cox making the rounds.
8
BB staff optimized the delivery routes with the Route4Me app and emailed it to our drivers. On delivery day, drivers also got a hardcopy of the route, plus any special instructions for particular addresses, such as a tricky driveway or a number the driver can call if he or she got lost.
Driver routes are optimized with the Route4Me app so they're not zigzagging all over town during pickup and dropoff.
9
When drivers arrived at the pickup site, they pulled up to a table to scan a check-in QR code (to activate their volunteer shift.)
Nancy Babbott demonstrates touch-free sign in.
10
A Bucket Brigade staffer placed a driver’s bucket of mask-making kits into the truck of their vehicle or through an open window. We also gave drivers sandwiches, snacks, and soda for the drive. Across the street at Village Service Station, volunteers received $15 of free fuel for the journey.
Bucket Brigade Community Outreach Coordinator Eunice Valle with a volunteer driver.
Every shift, our volunteer drivers get $15 of free fuel, thanks to Village Service Station.
11
Drivers dropped off the material and picked up the completed masks in a "touch-free" system. Once the driver was finished with the delivery route, the QR code is scanned again to end their shift.
12
Finished masks were inspected, counted, bagged and sent to Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners (pictured) to be laundered.
After finished masks are picked up my our drivers, they’re taken to Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners for laundering.
13
Upon return from Ablitt’s, volunteers wearing gloves and masks inspected and sorted the finished masks by size, and packaged them in seal-top plastic bags.
As part of our sorting process, we size each mask by hand as small, medium, large, or extra large.
David and Nancy Babbott sorting laundered masks.
14
On the next delivery day, the completed masks were distributed by our volunteer drivers to essential service workers throughout Santa Barbara County!
In addition to our mask and face shield projects, the Bucket Brigade has teamed up with other agencies and nonprofits to fill hundreds of volunteer shifts across the county — from delivering food to vulnerable families and homebound seniors, to assisting at homeless shelters and community centers.
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