Fort Worth-area youths team up to fight coronavirus by making masks, cards for patients

If they are an indication of what lies ahead for the community, the future of Aledo is in good hands.

A couple of sisters have taken the lead in helping fight the spread of the coronavirus, even creating their own nonprofit, Girls With GRACE.

Meanwhile, several other youngsters and their families worked together to create special cards for COVID-19 patients.

“We decided to do this because we love giving others joy and giving back to our community,” said Brynlynn Gray, a fifth-grader at Coder Elementary, who has joined forces with her sister, Brylee, a third-grader, to make about 200 masks.

“We are getting the joy of knowing that we can help people and bring smiles to people,” Brylee added.

They are donating the masks to mostly healthcare workers, along with hospital visitors and people in the Aledo community. There is no family connection to the healthcare industry, but their parents have several friends in the nursing industry.

It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to make a mask, the sisters said. They are cotton with elastic strips and fun patterns to “lighten the mood and give a brighter day when they wear it.”

All the fabric was donated to their nonprofit organization.

“The girls have always had compassion for others and wanting to help any way they can. When we saw all the sick people and exhausted nurses, etc., the girls asked if they could make masks to help,” said their mother, Amy Gray. “They put an update to their Girls With GRACE gofundme and people began donating, and the girls just ran with it.

“We love their servant hearts and their intent to treat others as Jesus would. And of all this even though Brynlynn, our oldest, just recently found out she has Type 1 diabetes. So even though she is fighting her own health battle, she is insistent on helping others.”

Amy helps measure and cut the fabric, along with ironing the pleats. She also sets up the headbands for the masks so they won’t hurt the ear of the person wearing it.

The girls came up with their own nonprofit name. It stands for God’s Reaching Arms Cover Everyone. Before they started making masks, they were making blankets to help homeless and needy families and individuals.

“We just took some more blankets to the homeless a couple of weeks ago and got to see the people using them, and that was so cool,” Brynlynn said.

Patti Oaks, with Aledo Children’s Advocats charity organization, saw on Facebook that the sisters were already sewing masks, so she contacted their mom and asked if they would be willing to sew and donate masks to the Aledo ISD nutrition department. This was so cafeteria workers would have masks while working and preparing food to be picked up and delivered to students during the pandemic.

“They were delighted and donated approximately 25 masks. It was a short window, we needed them quickly, within just a few days,” Oaks said.

“This is important for us because we love helping people and we know we are caring for our community,” Brylee said.

Cards of hope

A group of parents in Aledo teamed up to make cards for COVID-19 patients.

Ben and Chelsea Alexander’s family, led by daughters Sydney, age 9, and 3-year-old Graham, made about 30 cards after seeing a Facebook post from their neighbor, Courtney Christensen.

“I felt like doctors and nurses were doing so much for us, and we wanted to give back to them. It felt really good to help people who may be working through the hardest period of their lives,” said 12-year-old Evan Christensen.

“When the world seems out of control, the best thing you can do is think about the needs that are out there and find some small way to help,” Chelsea said. “Making these cards was one way to do that.”

In all, the neighborhood made more than 75 cards that were delivered to the hospitals where friends and neighbors Stephanie Murphy and Lacye Lemke work.

“It’s really tough that patients with the virus can’t see their families,” Sydney said. “I thought making the cards would bring a little hope to their day and encourage them to keep fighting.”

The message Sydney and Graham wrote on each of the cards they made was:

“After the rain comes the rainbow

After the night comes the light

Praying for your healing

Worry is just pretend

You’ll get better

Don’t worry”

Nine-year-old Ali Christensen said of the project, “Doctors and nurses might not be able to see their families because they are working on the front lines. So, our cards were a way to tell them that we appreciate them and what they are doing.”