Medical bears fromVermont Teddy Bear Co. pose, one with a Teddy Bear Co. produced mask. The company plans to make 125,000 reusable cloth masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Vermont Teddy Bear Co.

The Town of Winooski has partnered with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company on the business’s recent initiative to produce 125,000 reusable cloth masks for Vermonters to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

In March, the city of Burlington asked Vermont Teddy Bear Co. if they could help meet the city’s goal of producing 30,000 cloth masks, sparking the company’s idea for the initiative. Reaching their 125,000 mask goal would mean masks for about 20 percent of the state’s population.

“There was a group of us who said ‘hey, here’s an opportunity for us to play a part in the community and do something good,” said Vermont Teddy Bear Co. Director of Global Sourcing Matthew Mole.

The program started around March 20, just seven days after Vermont Teddy Bear Co. closed their offices on March 13 due to the pandemic.

The company quickly repurposed their industrial teddy bear sewing equipment to make pattern pieces and began producing masks. They also secured supplies of elastic through their supply chain partners domestically and internationally.

“We have these resources, we have the capabilities, we have the in house design expertise and all of that and so it really wasn’t that hard for us to pull it together and say ‘Vermont is our community, it’s not just Chittenden County or a smaller region, we really want to reach out to the whole state,’” Mole said.

The company had supplies but needed more sewing hands, so they reached out to other Vermont businesses for help and found many of them eager to participate. Communities in need of masks were also asking for the kits in order to assemble their “sewing armies,” Mole said, so the company began partnering directly with towns to distribute kits to volunteers.

Individual volunteers receive a kit that includes pre-cut fabric and elastic to make masks in both adult & child sizes—volunteers just need a sewing machine and thread.

Vermont Teddy Bear Co. brought the project to Winooski during its conception in March, but the program has since lost popularity in town. The initial sense of urgency to make masks has declined as people return to work, Mole said, but he is hoping for resurgence in volunteer interest in the project.

Winooski project volunteer coordinator Olivia Miller is working to keep the program going in town. Residents can contact her to sign up.

Miller picks up kits from Vermont Teddy Bear Co. in Shelburne and volunteers can either pick the kits up at a chosen location or Miller will drop them off at their houses. When at-home sewers finish, they can drop the masks off at the Winooski Memorial Library.

Winooski Resident Ellen Posts, 31, spoke to being an at home volunteer sewer for the program. “I felt like it was a good way to give back a little bit and use a skill that I have to help keep everyone safe. It felt closer to home since it was going to Winooski residents,” Posts said.

So far, Vermont Teddy Bear Co. has sent 589 kits—materials for about 28,000 masks—to their corporate and town partners, including Burton, Darn Tough, Winooski, and Williston. They have also distributed 596 kits—another 28,000 masks—to individual volunteers, according to Mole. Bees Wrap donated fabric and are a big part of the project’s success, Mole said.

Vermont Teddy Bear Co. is sending kits to not only Chittenden County towns but towns all over the state, including some in Southern Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom.

“Everybody has a need—it doesn’t matter where you are,” Mole said.

In Winooski, the program is currently giving out many of the masks made in town to Meals on Wheels recipients and local senior citizens, Miller said. The town is also hoping to use the masks they’ve made for opening up programs in the future, such as the Library and the O’Brien Community Center, according to Miller.

“We don’t want to turn [people] away at the door—we want to be able to give them a mask and welcome them in,” Miller said.

Together, home volunteers, corporate partners, and Vermont Teddy Bear Co. employees have made a total of about 65,800 masks, bringing Vermont Teddy Bear about halfway to their goal.

“We’re deeply rooted in the state and our community and we all felt like it was a great opportunity to do something to give back,” Mole said. “We’ll continue to make masks for this donation program until we hit that goal.”

If you are interested in being an at home sewer, you can contact Miller at volunteer@winooskivt.gov or call her at 802-655-1392 to get involved.