Préfète Déléguée Sylvie Feucher and Collectivité Vice-Presidents Valérie Damaseau and Annick Pétrus paid a visit on Thursday to two homes where volunteer seamstresses are producing washable, re-usable fabric masks. In photo: Seamstresses Cynthia David, Yvette Harris, Marguerite Cocks-Hildevert, and Sandrine Javois with Hélène Hunt in French Quarter. (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT--Préfète Déléguée Sylvie Feucher and Collectivité Vice-Presidents Valérie Damaseau and Annick Pétrus paid a visit to two homes on Thursday, one in French Quarter and one in Rambaud, where volunteer seamstresses are producing washable, re-usable fabric masks.
Some 54 seamstresses and two men answered the Collectivité’s call to assist in the 96,000-euro project “A mask for All “which is being managed by Initiative St. Martin Active (ISMA). ISMA President Jean-Paul Fischer and Director Sabrina Rivère were present. The project has been financed by Fondation de France.
The first visit in French Quarter was to the seamstresses from Association Royalty Development Network and Resource Center, followed at 1:00pm to Mme. Guenno in Rambaud.
Vice-President Damaseau said the original aim to was make 50,000 masks, but this was reduced to a more feasible 40,000. To make the masks, 3,000 metres of cotton, 29,000 metres of elastic, and 500 metres of thread were purchased. The raw materials were then distributed to the seamstresses according to their needs and the quantities they could produce.
The fabric meets the Association Françaises National de Normalisation(AFNOR) quality standard. It was estimated that 10,000 masks can be produced per week with all the seamstresses working together every day.
“The 10,000 masks already made will be given to schoolchildren first and the remaining 30,000 to the population,” Damaseau said. “The goal is for everyone to get a mask and we will be working with the district councils on how these will be distributed.”
Feucher praised the commitment and community-minded spirit of the seamstresses in this unprecedented crisis, calling their contribution an “extraordinary show of solidarity.”
