Circle G Trailers’ Pam Wells is helping save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
The trailer manufacturer said Wells, who is the company’s office manager in Ellington MO, and her friends started a group called Sewing to Save Lives, which has produced nearly 4,000 masks since the group’s inception in early March.
Wells has continued to help customers from the Circle G office during the outbreak, but when she’s not answering phone calls or handling online sales, she’s sewing. Her Sewing to Save Lives group, formed with the goal of coming together to help the community, includes Deanna McNail Turner, Nita Cowin Francis and Dianna Fox.
“We all know each other by name here in Reynolds County and when something like this happens, the community gets behind the situation,” Wells said. “So, some ladies and I started sewing."
In addition to making masks for hospitals, clinics or members of the community who are most at risk of contracting coronavirus, the masks Wells and her friends are making also save jobs, Circle G said.
“A business in Missouri called me and said that they were going to get a non-compliance status if their drivers didn’t start wearing masks,” Wells said.
“So we are going to send them masks at no charge.”
Wells and her group operate on donations, with all materials and funds collected going toward materials, or postage and shipping costs. To save on shipping, Wells drops off orders of masks to the nearest hospital an hour away. She also makes trips to clinics and offers the masks to members of the community who work at grocery stores and other establishments.
Ellington, home to approximately 900 people, is under a shelter-in-place order through May 11. However, the Sewing to Save Lives group plans to continue making masks after May 11 if there is a resurgence of coronavirus cases once the order is lifted.
Call 573-663-7555 or email [email protected] for more information.