Sewing is something Shauneen Crocker has done her whole life.

She's good at it.

In fact, before becoming a school counselor, she previously worked as a manager at Hancock Fabrics in Great Falls, Montana. So when she recently saw a Facebook post detailing Vanderbilt University Medical Center's urgent need for masks, Crocker recognized it as an opportunity to help.

"Not being able to go to school and not being able to help people, I was like, I need to do something," said Crocker, a counselor at John Colemon Elementary School in Smyrna. "It felt like something I could do that I was good at and would keep me focused on helping."

She found a short how-to video on YouTube and then made 25 masks. 

Her neighbor's niece is a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit, so she picked up the masks from Crocker's mailbox and delivered them to the hospital. 

"I get a sense of calmness for one," said Crocker, who admits to having anxiety issues if she feels like she's not being productive, "and it also makes me feel good that I'm helping others."

Crocker, who has been in education for the past 10 years, placed an online order for fabric from Walmart for curbside pickup.

It takes her about 15 minutes per mask if she has precut the pattern. Most stores have run out of elastic, so Crocker has been using thin headbands that she's bought for about $1 a piece from Walmart, Dollar Tree and Target. 

After making the initial 25 masks for Vanderbilt and a handful of others for friends and family, she saw a second post on Facebook where someone was selling homemade masks for $10.

"I got really upset because in this pandemic, the last thing we need to be doing is trying to get money from people," said Crocker, who explained that it might be a stretch for some families, especially those who are out of work, to buy four or five masks for their family members. "If they're worried about finances, how are they going to afford that?" 

Crocker decided to keep making masks and pass them out for free. 

She's now made 246 masks and has enough fabric to make 100 more as they're needed. In addition to here in Middle Tennessee, Crocker has shipped her handmade masks to Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Nebraska and her home state of Montana.

In fact, Crocker sent four masks to her husband's ex-wife, a nurse in Oregon. They are given one paper mask per shift in order to make supplies last. 

"I was devastated, so I said, 'I'm sending you some,'" Crocker recalled.

Jennifer Emamalie, an assistant principal at John Colemon, asked for a couple masks for when she and Christy Brown, the school's principal, are helping to serve food.

Emamalie's husband is a local firefighter. She sent Crocker some fabric to make a few masks for fire station.

Her masks are all washable — it's best if they're washed down inside a pillowcase — and she delivers each one in a Ziplock bag along with directions on how to sanitize the mask by putting it in a dryer for 10-15 minutes on high.

"I'm just happy to help and if people need more, then they can just contact me," Crocker said, "and I'll make some more."