Six employees who work in the costume and scene shops of UC Riverside’s Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production have been sitting behind sewing machines, stitching together face masks for their colleagues. Their motivation is to offer another layer of protection against the spread of COVID-19 for essential personnel who continue to work on campus at the University of California, Riverside.

The costume shop employees took over two floors of the Arts Building at UC Riverside, creating enough physical space between them in order to be able to work safely without further risking the spread of COVID-19. In a few hours, they had 32 masks done. By day four, they had sewn 284. One of the first UC Riverside teams to receive these marks were UCR’s Police Department officers and their support staff.

The goal is to sew at least 750 washable, three-ply face masks. The masks, not intended to be medical-grade, are free for employees.