Think one person can’t make a difference? Meet Paige Cox! One woman who inspired an army of people to help keep health-care workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paige is the Founder and Executive Director of Reconsidered Goods, a non-profit to reduce waste through reuse. Reconsidered Goods takes donated materials from manufacturers and individuals and helps divert them from the landfill and instead, puts these items and materials into the hands of artists, makers, teachers and kids to create something new.
When Guilford County issued a stay-at-home order in response to COVID-19, Reconsidered Goods was required to close its doors. Paige used this time working at home sewing protective fabric masks. It did not take long before she realized there was also a need for protective face shields, and she thought about all of the items she had at Reconsidered Goods. She was able to turn donated items like elastic straps, clear plastic sheets into personal protective see-through shields. After posting photos of what she was doing on social media, others wanted to help, and the effort took off.
Paige shifted from making the masks and shields to assembling kits for others to take and help make them. Each kit has enough materials to make about 50 shields or 50 no-sew masks. She stuffs each kit into a plastic bag with instruction on how to assemble and hangs them on a picket fence outside her home for people to pick up. People pick up the kits assemble them and bring them back the next day.
Thus, the army was formed! The network of volunteer mask and face shield makers calls itself the PPEople Brigade, PPE being an acronym for personal protective equipment. Paige created a website and Facebook page to inspire others to create grassroots networks in their cities. It was no surprise to learn that a new PPEople Brigade has already sprung up in the Triangle following the blueprint Paige created.
The one woman turned army is sending out masks and shields each week by the thousands. The PPEolpe Brigade is helping healthcare workers on the front lines as well as patients that are without masks in lower income areas, here at home and all over the world. This week the Brigade has extended its reach all the way to Malawi, Africa!
Want to be part of this amazing woman’s volunteer army? Stop by the fence at 908 Fairmont Street in Greensboro and pick up a kit ~ It’s that easy!
