One woman’s love of creating led her to raise over $2,000 for the Guelph Humane Society by designing custom face masks.
Debbie Webster recently delivered a cheque for $2,060 to the GHS after a few months of selling the masks. While Webster has donated to the humane society in the past, she said this is her first time doing anything like this.
“I’ve donated a bunch of extra dog coats I’ve made a while ago, and towels,” she recalls, “But it’s the first time I’ve done a big project like that.”
A designer and life-long sewer, Webster said she normally is busy volunteering her skills for different events held at the Village by the Arboretum, where she lives.
“I end up having to do a great deal of the design work around here,” she explains, “They keep me pretty busy that time of year, but with COVID, everything was cancelled.”
“I thought, ‘Well, I have time and I would like to do something,’ and I can make nice masks.”
She mentions part of her reasoning for designing masks comes from finding some manufactured cloth masks not very nice-looking.
“Some of the things that people wear look like rags,” she commented, “If you have to put something on your face that is the first thing people see, it might as well be nice.”
Starting in September, Webster began experimenting with different styles before settling on a few she liked.
“There were a lot of rejects to get them just right,” she remembers.
It wasn’t long before her masks started to gain attention and she started spending 18 hours a day sewing masks. By then, she was selling them for $10 a piece and thought it would be a good idea to donate the proceeds.
“I have the ability and I have the time,” said Webster, “I bought most of the materials myself.”
Webster calls each of her masks a ‘creation’ with no two masks looking alike. The masks range in themes from Christmas, to animals, to glamorous.
“I derived a lot of self-satisfaction out of it, rather than sitting here doing a jigsaw puzzle,” she explains about the experience, “I felt like I was accomplishing something.”
Most of her sales came from other residents at the Village by the Arboretum, who she said are ‘very supportive’ of charitable causes.
Webster said she may have been able to sell more masks, but wanted some time to prepare for the holidays.
“I was getting pretty sick of making masks," she admitted, "(but) I kept my eye on the prize.”
After covering some of the cost for materials, she said 99 per cent of her earnings went to the Humane Society with a little bit also going to the Guelph Food Bank.
An avid animal lover, Webster recalls growing up with animals and showing horses. For her, it was important to help support the animals.
“The animals tend to get forgotten,” she explains.
With this donation, the Guelph Humane Society’s manager of donor relations, Jen Fraser, said it will go to their new facility, which opens in March.
“We’re in the final stretch of that campaign,” she said about the building's progress, “We’re still looking to raise about $2.3 million.”
“This building is really going to be a community building, it’s going to do a lot of things that people don’t yet realize.”
Fraser goes on to say it is great to see individual residents rally support for non-profit organizations as the pandemic poses fundraising challenges.
“We haven't been able to meet with people the same way," she explains, "We haven't been able to have those one-on-one conversations in the same way, so it does impact the process."
“What Debbie’s done is great,” Fraser continues, “And we really hope it inspires other people to think about new ways to support, because COVID makes you think outside the box.”
For Webster, she said she is open to the idea of making more masks as she has contemplated producing a spring line.
“If people still want to buy them, I will still make them.”
