As personal protective equipment, PPE, becomes a dire need and hard to find for local area health care facilities, one Sigourney woman wanted to extend a helping hand and make protective fabric masks. Annette Clarahan works her full time job as a Family Coordinator for the Great Prairie Area Education Agency from home due to COVID-19, then at night she makes fabric masks, a temporary solution to a massive PPE shortage. Clarahan says so far, she and 13 others have sewn 400 masks and distributed them to various health care facilities and local individuals with underlying health issues. She has also received a monetary donation of $150 from Brother’s Market in Sigourney to buy four spools of elastic. She tells KCII News why making these masks is important to her, “We didn’t know what was going to happen. I think it takes a little bit of the anxiety from all of us. It makes me feel better when I’m sewing and working because our caregivers are so essential and all the people who are working at our grocery stores, our gas stations, all those places, at restaurants who are serving take out, they are essential. We need them. We’ve got to keep them safe so that they can take care of us.” Clarahan is currently taking donations of fabric at her home dropbox to create more masks and is looking for more individuals to make masks. She says the guideline she uses for making masks is for them to be 100 percent cotton, have a pocket to incorporate filters, and be fitted. Individuals who want to volunteer can contact Clarahan at 641-660-1842 for more instructions and information.