"As people scramble for masks during the coronavirus pandemic, leaders in the Campus District are more concerned with protecting some of Cleveland’s most exposed people.

Jane Finley, founder of Across the Lines, put Mask the District into action after working with the women of the YWCA Norma Herr Women’s Center. “I was concerned about the women I knew at the shelter and I wondered if there was a need [for masks], so I reached out to the director of the shelter,” recalls Finley. She learned from Rochena Crosby, Norma Herr’s senior director of shelter services, that masks were needed to keep the women at Norma Herr safe.

So far, the Mask the District campaign has distributed about 500 masks and will continue to make and hand out more masks indefinitely.

Mask the District still needs volunteers to make masks. The organization even provides a no-sew, step by step guide to making masks and encourages volunteers to reach out if they need supplies or other materials."