Coronavirus. It’s the word that we hear a thousand times a day right now. Most of us have never seen anything like this in our lifetime and this global pandemic is sure to be remembered for many years to come. The United States, like many other countries, was and still is severely unprepared to deal with the growing number of people infected. People are gutting the stores and it’s been hard for anyone to get their hands on toilet paper, milk, hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, cereal and most importantly, masks. Not only are regular people not able to protect themselves outside, medical professionals are also starting to run out of masks and as those on the front-lines of this pandemic, it is especially crucial for them to be protected. It always seems, however, that in times of hardship is when true heroes emerge. One such unexpected hero is Christina Karin, a fashion designer in Chicago.
Christina Karin
Christina Karin is a Chicago-Area fashion designer who sports an effortlessly chic look. She opened her Christina Karin collection in Wicker Park last year that conveys her clean and sophisticated, yet rebellious spirit.
What is she doing?
Christina is doing her best to help healthcare professionals that are in short supply of face masks by making her own to send to them. She started making face masks with scraps of fabric from her design studio and has made over 500 since Saturday. She posted her journey on her Instagram and enlisted the help of her followers by demonstrating how to make the masks in a tutorial that they could follow. Karin said about coronavirus, “It makes you feel less helpless, and it empowers you and gives you motivation in the morning when you wake up and think – what am I going to do today?”. Her goal is to make/gather 10k masks to give to Chicago healthcare professionals. Karin, along with countless others around the country have stepped up in this time of need to come to the rescue. Thank you to Christina and to everyone else who is doing what they can to help with this tragic virus; the health professionals putting themselves at risk to try to save others, delivery workers who are making sure people are still getting supplies they need, restaurant workers who know not everyone has the means or skill to make their own food and have kept their doors (metaphorically since we can only pick-up/deliver) open to us, and to everyone staying put in their house braving the many hours stuck in one space with their family, thank you.
This is not the solution to the shortage nor will this act cure the pandemic but it is nice to know that there are people that get going when the going gets tough.
“There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet.”
William Frederick Halsey Jr.
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