Mothers' Union member Sandra turns to crafting face coverings

When Covid-19 hit the UK and we had to go into lockdown, it meant that many plans had to change and events had to be cancelled and postponed. Mothers’ Union members have had to stop meeting together for fellowship and their opportunities to fundraise have been hampered. Sandra Pearce, a member and branch treasurer in Leicestershire, was one of those who found herself having to cancel a summer concert – a fundraiser that had raised over £1000.00 the year before and was well attended by the community of her thriving village.

Faced with this shortfall in revenue Sandra, thought about what skills she had instead that could give her an opportunity to raise money. She knew that she could sew very well and had a cupboard full of material and there was a lot of discussion in the press about the public having to continue to wear face coverings as we come out of lockdown.

After finding a suitable pattern she made a couple of cloth face coverings and decided to put an advert in her Church notices offering to make and sell face masks for £3.00 each. This was an overnight success and after a couple of days she already had 100 orders. Given the demand and the quality of the fabric she was using Sandra decided that she would charge £5.00 per mask going forward, which people were very happy to pay given that all the money goes to Mothers’ Union. Sandra has already made 360 masks and raised over £1845.00 – and the orders are still coming in thick and fast!

“I didn’t want Covid-19 to stop me from doing my part and raising funds for MU” Sandra says “I couldn’t believe what an incredible response I had from just placing an advert in a newsletter and word-of-mouth has certainly helped business. I think everyone wants to help and everyone wants to be as generous as they can be in these difficult times”.