Covid's Contribution To Me by Camryn

Covid's Contribution To Me by Camryn - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

Volunteer work is something that I've done throughout my high school career and I have done countless types of volunteer work. My activities have ranged from trash pick up to lunch-packing for the homeless to even helping out at a golf course as a verifier for a hole-and-one competition. Though all of these were volunteer opportunities that I enjoyed participating in, I believe the most important and impactful activity that I did was getting to hand-make masks. These cloth masks were for children and adults to protect themselves from Covid 19. I sewed over sixty colorful and fashionable masks and donated them to Open Door Mission for them to give to those in need during the beginning of the outbreak. Some were purple or brown and some had flowers on them, but all were stylish to me. I felt that the masks needed to have a little personality and pizzazz in them so that people could express themselves and wear their favorite colors in such troubling times. About fifteen of them were for young children and the rest were for adults. All of the masks were adjustable, so the target audience was very large. Finally, each mask took me about thirty to forty-five minutes to make, but it's evident that each and every second was worth it.
During the time I was making them, there was a major shortage of masks and I felt obligated to help out since the virus was affecting millions around the world. Even some of my family and friends that got the virus were sick for days and had lasting effects for months. Because of all of this, the mask-making was a task where I had the highest degrees of passion and willingness. I had never sewn prior to this as well. I think the work and effort I had to put into these masks (and the help my grandma gave me) taught me that no matter how able-bodied or experienced someone is with anything, they can always learn and contribute to anything they set their mind to. Of course, I was frustrated initially because the masks were coming out uneven or too small. With support from my family, it was easy to push through the many needle-breaks and thread jams I had. People giving me their love and help me showed me that those around you are truly important and necessary pieces of out lives. I now constantly look towards family and friends for help, when before I did everything independently.
Although I never got to see who received my masks, I did hear back from one of the directors of the organization that they did all get into needy hands. This made me happy and it really made me feel needed and impactful. I'm very grateful people got to enjoy my masks and in the future I will look to find more ways I can directly help people or a certain cause.