Retired seamstress sews masks to fight the pandemic and help feed animals in need

Jean Henderson is an avid volunteer. It's something she's been doing since 1978 when she first moved to Edmonton with her then-young family. That same year, after her son fell ill and died, she started volunteering. It gave her purpose. 

"It's the gratitude you get from the people for just doing what you're doing," said Henderson, 73. 

When the coronavirus pandemic hit a few months ago, Henderson, a retired seamstress, dusted off her sewing machine and started putting her skills to good use.

At first, she started sewing masks for her neighbours and family. But one night, she saw on the news that food banks needed donations and she wondered how people with pets were coping.

She heard about the Alberta SPCA's Help for Animals program, which donates food to pet owners struggling financially during the pandemic, and wanted to contribute. 

"I thought, 'Well, I can make a few masks and see what would happen,'" she said.

She started sewing masks for a minimum $5 donation, thinking she might make a few hundred dollars for the cause. Then, "It just exploded!"

Mask-making mamas like Henderson have become the Rosie the Riveter of the coronavirus pandemic, helping people get a homemade form of personal protective equipment to help prevent the spread of the virus.

To date, Henderson has made more than 1,100 masks and raised close to $6,000 for the Alberta SPCA. And the orders keep rolling in.

Henderson's home has become a makeshift mask-making factory with material spread over her kitchen island, living room, and boxes piled on her sofas, with orders ready to go.

She has even recruited her daughter, Barb Henderson, to do the administrative work on the mask orders while she keeps churning out more masks, alternating between her two sewing machines and serger.

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Henderson has started receiving donations herself, with fabric coming from quilters in the city and a $100 gift certificate from Johnson Sewing Centre to get her serger serviced after the pandemic is over.

"It's been one of the most amazing things in such a negative time," Barb Henderson said. "The positivity that has been created by this has been amazing."

Putting animals first

The Alberta SPCA is amazed by Henderson's efforts. 

"We know a lot of people will make the decision to feed their animals before they feed themselves," said communications manager Dan Kobe. "We didn't want people having to make that decision and that choice."  

The Alberta SPCA will continue the program throughout the pandemic. It currently has about 1,500 bags of pet food on pallets ready to give away to pet owners who are in need. 

As for Henderson, she's grateful her efforts are appreciated, but, for her, it's something she naturally does. 

"You look at this money and think, 'I can do a lot with that.' But it's not mine. I am not taking this money for me. I'm taking it for a cause," she said. "That is just something I like to do." 

Although she is looking forward to the end of the pandemic, Henderson admits that she'll miss making masks. 

"When this does change, my house will get back to normal and I'll wake up and think, 'What do I do today?'"

- With files from Adrienne Pan