North Bay Volunteers Sew Masks For Essential Workers

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — There is always hope in helping, says Quinn Roncarati, a Monte Rio resident who alongside three other Sonoma County women launched an effort to sew masks for those in the healthcare field and other essential workers who need protection from the coronavirus.

“When I saw a post on a mom’s group on Facebook about people needing masks, I contacted that person directly because of my background in textile and fashion,” said Roncarati, who owns a clothing and accessory manufacturing business in downtown Santa Rosa that as a non-essential business, has been closed since mid-March.

Soon, there was a foursome — Roncarati, Kelley Payne, Natalie Hoytt and Nada Hadley — and on March 21, North Bay Sewists Unite! launched as a Facebook group.

“It was a spontaneous group, and everyone naturally chose their own roles,” Roncarati said. “We just got lucky with a diverse group.”

Overnight, 200 sewers joined. There are now more than 900 North Bay volunteers sewing masks by request.

To ensure the masks go where they are needed, the group partnered with the Sonoma County Medical Association. As of Tuesday, the North Bay group had fulfilled orders for more than 1,000 masks — free of charge.

It is an intricate, streamlined and sanitary process that involves drop-off locations in Monte Rio, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa.

Volunteers must go through an application process. The group texts the secretive drop-off locations to the volunteers who are given instructions that include washing the masks with their washing machine set to hot to kill any possible trace of the virus. Each mask is then placed into a bag with clean, gloved hands.

The group has received requests for at least 4,153 masks from nursing homes, grocery stores and even a chemotherapy center, Roncarati said.

“It is a beautiful thing; we have a strong community,” Roncarati said. “The nurses may be scared but they know they have 1,000 of us cheering them on. For us, making a mask is no sweat off our back. There is always hope in helping.”

North Bay Sewists Unite! inspired the formation of SF/East Bay Crafters Unite! — and Roncarati said the group is happy to share its model with even more volunteers throughout the Bay Area.

“Then hopefully we’ll have the whole Bay sewing.”