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Sofia Rossi, a junior at Syracuse University studying citizenship and civic engagement, decided to convert the boredom she felt over the summer into a way to help others.

Sofia founded People Made Masks, a family-run business that hand sews and designs face masks. People Made Masks donates proceeds from the masks to local nonprofit organizations such as Vera House.

“I was a little skeptical because we weren’t sure if it would be successful or if we would be able to make the masks,” Sofia’s sister Julia Rossi said. “We had to watch a lot of YouTube videos (and) do a lot of research on how to do a mask that would be CDC-approved.”

Julia said that she and Sofia went to the store and bought fabric, making sure it was 100% cotton and breathable.

A portion of the money made by People Made Masks goes to local Syracuse nonprofits such as Vera House. Courtesy of Julia Rossi

Sofia’s family helped her make the masks, which were assembled using her mother’s old sewing machine. Sofia would measure out the fabric and then her mom would put together the two layers of the mask. Julia would then measure out the elastic, and Sofia would sew the whole mask together.

“I worked with (my mom) on it as well as my sister,” Sofia said. “It was kind of a team effort. We were like a team going down the line, all sewing masks together.”

But eventually the summer ended and Sofia came back to Syracuse for her junior year, changing the process by which the family made the masks.

Before she left for school, Sofia cut the fabric and did measurements for all the masks. She doesn’t have a sewing machine at school, so her mom and Julia are sewing the masks together at their home in Westchester, New York.

Being at Syracuse did have some benefits though, Sofia said, as it gave her more opportunities to publicize her masks while walking on campus. She doesn’t have a website and instead publicizes her mask business through her Instagram account.

Profits from the first 10 masks will go to Vera House, and profits from the next ten will benefit a Latino organization in Syracuse that Sofia has not decided on yet, she said.

Vera House is an organization in Syracuse that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“When the world turned upside down in March, our fundamental charge to ourselves and others was to be able to ensure continuity of mission and service,” said Randi Bregman, the executive director of Vera House.

Julia Rossi has taken on sewing the masks with her mom at home while Sofia is at SU. Courtesy of Julia Rossi

Vera House has been able to provide services to the community by providing counseling through Zoom and a chat function on their website, Bregman said. She added that problems with maintaining Vera House persisted.

“The pandemic has turned a lot of things upside down,” Bregman said. “And one of them is our confidence in our financial stability.”

Sofia, who has volunteered with Vera House in the past, donated a portion of her proceeds from People Made Masks to help solve this problem.

As for other organizations that People Made Masks might help, Sofia plans to pick one linked to her family’s heritage.

“I’m not sure what she’ll pick next, but probably (an) organization that is involved with Latinx (individuals),” Julia said. “Both me and my sister are Latina, so we think that moving forward, that would be an organization that we would pick because it’s close to our heart.”

Published on September 21, 2020 at 10:37 pm

Contact Mateo: mtestlin@syr.edu