Kemi Ajisekola was searching for a quarantine project ended up embarking on a mask-making operation that is helping a multitude of people.
Kemi Ajisekola is using her spare time to make masks that end up benefiting a neighborhood food pantry
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — As a branded content writer for Buzzfeed, Kemi Ajisekola isn’t typically accustomed to slow workdays. Her typical Monday-Friday routine is filled with producing web stories that center around retail, fashion and fitness clients driven by advertising efforts that have slowed considerably during the coronavirus pandemic.
So with more time on her hands than normal and in search of a DIY project, Ajisekola decided to rediscover a sewing habit that she had put on the back burner in recent years. Needing a refresher course in the art of stitching, the Bedford-Stuyvesant resident came across an online tutorial for mask-making, which provided her with a project that would not only fill her time but would make a difference in her neighborhood.
Ajisekola began to sew, using fabric and materials she paid for out of her own pocket and creating face-coverings she knew could be used by her neighbors. Since she began, community members have donated fabric and elastic to keep Ajisekola’s charitable operation going. So far, she has completed almost 40 masks, each of which she sells for a $5 donation with 100 percent of the proceeds going to The Campaign Against Hunger .
Ajisekola was nominated as a Patch Local Hero by her friend Rachel Perry, who wrote that Ajisekola’s favorite part of the project is seeing the way the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood has come together as the fight against of the spread of coronavirus comes together.
“I love what’s she doing,” Perry wrote.
Ajisekola said she chose the Bedford-Stuyvesant-based pantry after reading a Patch story on how the pantry was facing increased requests for food from local families who were struggling to keep food on the table due to layoffs and other losses of income.
By the time Ajisekola completes her current load of orders and then begins work on the next wave of 25 masks people have ordered, she figures she will have donated $400 to the pantry.
“People just started contacting me randomly (about the masks) without any prompt,” Ajisekola said this week. “I figured it’s just a nice thing to do for people.”
Article Credit: patch