When Lake County’s high school graduates cross the stage in ceremonies throughout the district, each will be provided a souvenir face mask decorated with their school colors and mascots, sewn by a team of local volunteers.
The project was led by L.A.S.E.R. (Lake Support and Emergency Recovery), a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 to help the county recover from disasters through a coordinated community-wide approach. The group and its volunteers have provided meals for food pantries and helped with cleanup after tornadoes and hurricanes, but creating face masks was a new venture for them.
“Up until March 1, we had never made a mask,” said Michael Tart, a founding member of the group and chairman of its board of directors. “Most of us probably didn’t even know what the term PPE (personal protective equipment) was.”
Since then, with the help of volunteers from multiple churches and the textile program at the Lake County Jail, they have created thousands of masks for first responders and local hospitals in light of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Then, when the school district started planning how to safely celebrate its seniors, the group came to the rescue with a team of volunteers from Real Life Christian Church in Clermont and financial support from the Education Foundation of Lake County and Lake County Sheriff’s Charities, Inc. A team of 45 women – some cutting, some sewing – created more than 3,000 masks in less than two weeks. They handed the masks off to Superintendent Diane Kornegay today.
“I’m extremely grateful for the support of this community,” Kornegay said. “They have rallied to make masks for all of our seniors. Keeping our seniors and our guests safe is our top priority, and the masks are one of the safety protocol requirements outlined by our local health department for graduation. Thanks to these volunteers, having a traditional graduation ceremony for our students is now possible.”
