Free masks available at Western Dakota Tech

RAPID CITY – Free masks and mask-making kits can be picked up by residents of Rapid City every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday within the main entrance of Western Dakota Tech (WDT) from 9 a.m. to noon.

The masks and mask kits are a result of WDT’s project Masks for Rapid City. The project has a goal of coordinating and distributing 60,000 masks in Rapid City. As of July 14 “we have now collected 14,551 masks for the community,” said Stephanie Mayfield, Lead Project Coordinator for Masks for Rapid City. “The group made about 1,000 kits for mask makers in the community last week which will yield about 23,000 more masks for Rapid City.”

Masks for Rapid City has received grant money from community partners like the John T. Vucurevich Foundation, South Dakota Community Foundation, and the United Way of the Black Hills. Grant money is used to purchase fabric and thread for the mask making kits.

“We get the fabric and it gets cut into one yard pieces and washed,” said Katherine Maxson, Executive Assistant to the President of Western Dakota Tech. “We have to cut the ties and then the pieces are bagged up after we get all of them are together.”

Each mask making kit contains an 11 step instruction booklet with templates and photos along with enough material to yield around 20 masks. When completed, sewers can drop the masks back off at WDT. From there, the masks are washed again and then distributed.

“We have sewers that come in Monday with the masks that they made over the weekend and then they get another kit,” said Maxson. “They keep coming time and time again.”

Masks are available for pick up in the main entrance to WDT, but organizations can request larger orders. Some organizations that have done this are Monument Health, Rapid City Medical Center, Community Health Center of the Black Hills, Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board, the Hope Center, WAVI, Lakota Community Homes, Children’s Home Society, Edgewood Assisted Living, Avantara, Addiction Recovery Center, and Children’s Home Society.

Community partners that are assisting WDT in reaching 60,000 masks include the John T. Vucurevich Foundation, South Dakota Community Foundation, the United Way of the Black Hills, Monument Health Foundation, Heritage Cleaners, Laundry World, Quilt Connection, The Sewing Center, and Betty’s Quiltery. There has also been several individual donations.

Along with Masks for Rapid City, WDT is requiring that all staff, students, and visitors wear masks and have their temperature checked while on campus. Some classes offered at the technical college during the fall semester will be presented in a hybrid (online and in-person) fashion to adhere to social distancing, and some other classes will be strictly online. Dining services at the college will be closed for at least the fall semester.

(Contact Travis at travisldewes@gmail.com)

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