An Aldergrove woman is making an impact on her community by handcrafting orange masks to honour the first Truth and Reconciliation Day, coming up on Thursday, Sept. 30.
The date is also known as Orange Shirt Day.
Barb Taylor, the owner of Gramma’s Cottage Crafts has been sewing and embroidering masks for more than a year during the pandemic, and selling customized masks to her community. With Sept. 30 approaching, a friend asked her to make an orange mask to honour Indigenous lives.
“She suggested that I started selling them, but I’m not comfortable making a profit for these masks. Ethically it wouldn’t feel right,” Taylor told the Aldergrove Star.
Taylor posted the photo of the orange mask she made on Facebook to show her off her new craft, instead she received comments of others wanting an orange mask made for them. Taylor offered to make a total of 20 masks, but in the first five hours, she sold out and 20 more were requested.
“I’m scrambling to get them all done by the weekend, but I do still work full time,” Taylor said.
She now has 75 requests for her orange embroidered masks, each mask selling for $13. All proceeds are being donated to Reconciliation Canada and The Orange Shirt Day Society, both are B.C. charities.
Her masks are made with three layers of cotton or poly cotton material with an adjustable wire over the nose, sized from extra small to extra large.
“I’ve always tried to help out where I can, and this is just another way of trying to do my part,” she said.
RELATED: B.C. Lions unveil special logo for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
READ MORE: Orange Shirt Day Society calls on Conservatives to support a National Day of Reconciliation
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