Craft-a-thon helps veterans sew masks

Beth Kingston lamented her poor stitching skills as she raced to finish her homemade cloth mask ahead of Jon Nagel, who egged her on the whole time.

“I am not wearing my glasses,” said Kingston, a military wife and craft expert on the Home Shopping Network.

“Yeah, these stitches are not straight,” laughed Army veteran Nagel, who was quick to point out that Kingston had started her mask first and that, therefore, the contest was unfair.

“I did start earlier,” she conceded.

But Kingston still yelped with glee when she defeated her fellow crafter, placing the mask over her face to prove it.

The contest was all in the good fun. The two were leading hundreds of military veterans on Zoom through the steps of making a homemade mask during a virtual craft-a-thon Saturday.

The event was organized by Help Heal Veterans, a national nonprofit that was started in 1971 to provide free craft kits to veterans and active-duty military members as a means of helping them improve cognitive function and motor skills, as well as cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

The organization typically provides crafts related to woodworking, leather painting and needlecrafts, but the COVID-19 pandemic called for something a little more creative.

“With COVID-19, we wanted to help out and, obviously, protective face masks is where it’s at,” said Joe McClain, the organization’s CEO and retired Navy captain. “We took it upon ourselves to design a craft kit that not just fits the needs of people who need to stay safe now, but also help them with their anxiety by doing their own type of craft.”

Help Heal Veterans mailed out 2,000 maskmaking kits — 150 of which were sent to Texans — ahead of the event Saturday, complete with all the materials needed. Kingston, Nagel and fellow crafting coach Jonah Larson then walked everyone through the process Saturday, taking questions from people online as they went.

Jonah, a 12-year-old who has been on the “Today” show to show off his advanced crocheting skills, sat in a room filled floor to ceiling with spools of yarn in various shades of yellow, blue and pink. Although it was 73 degrees Fahrenheit in his hometown of La Crosse, Wisc., and he was indoors, a thick, crocheted hat the color of Big Bird sat atop his head.

Jonah made the hat in about the same amount of time it was taking him to crochet a face mask, his hands flying over a batch of red yarn that was taking shape almost as quickly as Kingston and Nagel pulled together their crookedly stitched ones.

Jonah, who started crocheting at age 5, understands how much crafting can help calm people during difficult times.

“Crafting has been a way to relax,” said Jonah, who’s crocheting YouTube channel, Jonah’s Hands, has nearly 68,000 subscribers. “It’s very therapeutic, the motion, but it’s always a way for me to expand and try so many new things.”

In Texas, Help Heal Veterans has seen the demand for craft kits spike during the pandemic, as veterans find themselves alone and without the activities at local veteran facilities that they rely on for social interaction.

“In Fort Hood alone, we had a request for 20,000 craft kits to keep isolated veterans busy,” said Trish Alger, a craft care specialist at the organization’s Temple location. “That just made us realize, with all the isolated people, (the craft-a-thon) gives them an opportunity to be part of something bigger and also gives them something practical to use.”

The need has gone up all over the country, McClain said. Since the pandemic started, the organization has mailed out 90,000 craft kits to veterans and active-military members in need of something to keep them busy.

It took Kingston and Nagel less than an hour to complete their cloth masks on Zoom. Kingston marveled at how simple it was — especially for someone who can’t sew.

“This is the greatest,” Kingston said. “I feel proud that I can make a mask. I feel very excited.”

For those who could not participate Saturday, the mask-making kits will soon be made available for free on the organization’s website, https://www.healvets. org/how-we-heal/healvets-craft-kits.