Donations sought to make free masks

Always and Forever Kids Clothing Boutique owner is holding a fundraiser to raise money to make masks for the community.

“It is masks for a cause,” Carissa Anderson said. “It is for people who can’t afford to put masks on their children or even homeless people, or even people that don’t have a lot of money and don’t just have disposable income to put toward masks.”

She said it normally takes anywhere from $2.50 to $3.00 to make a mask.

People can donate on the Havre’s Masks for a Cause Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/donate/320461435960566/320464015960308 .

“I’d like a personal goal to be that we raise enough money for at least 1,000 masks, which would translate to approximately $2,500,” the page said. “I have seen this community come together to help their neighbors when times get tough, so I feel strongly that we can raise this money.”

People can also bring donations into the boutique. The Havre Book Exchange will as well be accepting donations when the boutique is closed, which is Mondays and Tuesdays.

“Anybody that has disposable income to go to help somebody put a mask on their face to try to just curb COVID is kind of our goal,” she said.

She added that she decided to do this fundraiser because she has seen a lot of  homeless people on the street and with the numbers of cases going up, she felt bad, and thought of helping people get their hands on a mask.

She said everybody should be or trying to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

On a table outside of A Plus Health Care Inc. in the Atrium she will be providing the masks she makes free of charge starting today, Anderson said.

“Anybody that can donate a little bit it is helping somebody protect themselves because we can’t always say a mask is going to stop COVID, or we can’t always say that hand sanitizing every five seconds is going to stop it, but it is a way to prevent it,” she said. “It is a way to help prevent it, anyway. If a mother can’t afford a mask she should still be able to protect her child. As far as homeless people they should be able to get their hands on a mask so that they can feel comfortable.”