When the state of Victoria in Australia went back into lockdown, Year 6 Girls’ School student, Chloe Ira, dusted off her mum’s sewing machine and got to work, making her family in Melbourne reusable face masks.

In the hope to keep them safe from Covid-19 and to also reduce our ecological footprint from the use of so many disposable masks, Chloe sourced suitable materials and dedicated her spare time to learning how to use the sewing machine to make masks.

Within a few days, when Prime Minster, Jacinda Ardern announced Auckland was moving back into Alert Level 3, after being Covid-free for more than 100 days, Chloe was already on a roll. With her Social Science enquiry focusing on ‘Community’ and helping others, to utilise her free time after completing her distance learning, Chloe thought it would be the perfect opportunity to not only help her family in Melbourne but also her friends, family and neighbours in her local area.

The demand was high, Chloe made 22 masks before running out of elastic - then turned to her sister’s elastic hair ties as an interim, to keep up with the demand!

Chloe has been dropping the masks off to her neighbours over the last week during her daily walk – knocking on the door, leaving the mask on the doorstep and waving goodbye.

Chloe has received many thank you messages and said, ‘It is great to know that the masks are working well and being used.’

Well done Chloe, it is great to see that you are caring for others and our environment!

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