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In Charlottesville, Virginia, Kevin Hubbard ’11 and Matt Loftus ’11 produce thousands of “victory masks”—without a profit—at their clothing company, Rhoback.

Kim Nikles ’89 and her “Thread Posse” quilting group in Atlanta, Georgia, burn through their surplus of fabric, transforming attics and sewing rooms into mask-making headquarters.

Kit, a custom women’s dressmaker founded by Merin Guthrie ’06, enlists more than 70 volunteer sewers to meet hospital and fire station requests for coveted masks.

�ʼһ��� Professor of Art Cort Savage links up with a sewing group out of Ohio, professing that the art of making masks helps to mitigate the fear and anxiety caused by COVID-19.

Well before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent recommendation to wear masks in public, the �ʼһ��� community turned its resources and energy toward meeting a national need.

Victory Masks



“We saw the writing on the wall,” co-founder Matt Loftus said. “There was a huge shortage in hospitals, and we consulted with several friends in the medical field, including our classmate Trey Kellogg, a chief resident at UT Health in San Antonio. After our initial batch of donated masks, we decided to make them more widely available at cost.”

Healthcare workers received the first batch of 2,200 orders. Then Rhoback opened the floodgates, and things got very busy for their South Korea-based manufacturing partners.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Kevin Hubbard said. “We had nearly 15,000 orders in the first three hours. We’ve called on volunteers in the Charlottesville area to help us fulfill all the orders as they arrive.” The victory masks are on sale through Tuesday night, April 14.

Along with mask production, Rhoback started the Pick-Me-Up Polo Initiative to provide a gift of a polo shirt or pullover to nominated healthcare workers on the front lines, people who have been furloughed or laid off, or anyone significantly impacted by the situation. Hundreds of nominations flooded in.

They are also encouraging other e-commerce sites to participate in their national campaign on April 16. Brands that run a sale on that date will match the sale percentage with a donation to charity. Rhoback’s proceeds will go to the Charlottesville Restaurant Community Fund, which helps laid off restaurant workers.

Protecting the Protecters



�ʼһ��� senior Emily Sirota has partnered with a local makerspace to use 3D printing and laser cutting to build aerosol boxes and face shields for medical professionals like her mom, a New York nurse. Sirota frequented �ʼһ���’s makerspace, Studio M, her sophomore year, and interned at a digital fabrication startup, Wikifactory, while studying abroad last year in Madrid.

“I have a single mom working overtime as an ER nurse at Jacobi Medical Center in Bronx, NY, a level one hospital,” said Sirota. “When I got home from �ʼһ���, I wanted to do something to help. It’s fate that this makerspace had opened up last summer, just a 10-minute walk from my home.”

New York City is the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, and Sirota’s mom has said that while she is on the front lines to protect others, she also needs to protect herself. Sirota’s team donates everything directly to Jacobi.

Works of Art



After 20 years of face-to-face teaching, Cort Savage had to pivot abruptly, too, when his sculpture and drawing classes moved to remote learning.

In his spare time, Savage has taken on mask making using materials he has at home.

“I wanted to participate but was hesitant because there were so many different designs, and I didn’t know what was useful and what wasn’t,” Savage said. “I ended up connecting with an organization out of Ohio—it was the first site I found that was partnering with hospitals, and they had been asked to make 10,000 masks.”

Savage got to work, shipping masks to Ohio. Soon, the local requests came: �ʼһ��� President Carol Quillen asking for masks for dining hall workers serving students still on campus; requests from neighbors, family members and friends. The purely functional masks for the hospitals turned into custom, beautiful artwork for loved ones.

“The beauty and color and pattern—it does help,” Savage said. “It can play a significant role in our ability to move through the trauma that is, of course, there.”

Savage has enough materials at his home for 2,000 masks.

“To some, this may seem a futile effort,” he said. “I read the expected need for face masks in the United States is around three billion. At the same time, I remain convinced that small efforts by many can make a profound difference.”