Seamstress Jacqueline “Jackie” George ends every work day feeling accomplished.
The 57-year-old Columbus, Ohio, native is the lead sewer of the Sterling Heights-based apparel company Gettees, which has doubled its sewing team to 12 people to make surgical gowns for donations and for sale.
Gettees has donated gowns to Detroit Children’s Hospital, Detroit Veterans Homeless Center and some branches of Beaumont Hospital, among others.
“Helping the doctors and patients that need the masks and gowns is a blessing,” said George. She previously worked in the auto industry, but she has since traded making car seats for hoodies and T-shirts.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and Michigan’s subsequent stay-at-home-order in March, Gettees founder Mathew Hunt, 28, of Sterling Heights was left to rethink his next steps. With a new brick-and-mortar location in Detroit’s Eastern Market but a lack of traffic, Hunt began to direct the team toward a different task: helping health care workers.
“We had the machines, we had the very skilled sewers, and we could get our hands on the materials,” Hunt said. “It was our turn to step up and help out. It was our turn to do our part for the community.”
As the company's retail store was shuttered, the shift turned out to be the right move for the business that allowed it to add to its staff due to demand for surgical gowns.
More: Rage unmasked: How a piece of cloth has America going mad
More: Restaurant bailout bill draws rare bipartisan support
In the last four months, Gettees has retooled a portion of its factory, developed a gown pattern and trained its expanded sewing staff on how to manufacture medical-grade, surgical gowns using materials made domestically.
And for George, the motivation to keep the community safe doesn’t end at 5 p.m. when she leaves work. George is a grandmother — and with two daughters working in home care, she also understands the potential dangers her family members may experience in those professions.
“When we were given the opportunity to take some masks home from the job, I gave them to my daughters,” George said.
Fellow Gettees seamstress Diana Collins is a 68-year-old Armada resident and has been an industrial machine operator since 1971. She attributes Gettees’ successful response to the organization’s quick-thinking and fast-paced environment.
“I'm very proud to help,” Collins said. “(We) jumped right in first thing, nearly stopped everything, and started with making our own face masks.”
The struggles of her loved ones in the health care field also fueled Collins’ determination to help. Choking up over the phone, Collins expressed her admiration and fear for those on the front lines of the pandemic.
“You feel so sorry for them, you know, because they can't quit. And they don’t want to quit,” she said. “They care so much.”
In addition to donations, 50-unit cases of the cotton surgical gowns are available for purchase for $700. For more information, go to www.gettees.us.
Eva McCord and Haley Grooms are summer apprentices at the Detroit Free Press.
"company" - Google News
July 25, 2020 at 06:00PM
https://ift.tt/2XbEDQX
Sterling Heights T-shirt company doubled its sewing to help during coronavirus - Detroit Free Press
"company" - Google News
https://ift.tt/33ZInFA
https://ift.tt/3fk35XJ
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Sterling Heights T-shirt company doubled its sewing to help during coronavirus - Detroit Free Press"
Post a Comment