The Miracle Mask Project is a project founded by two college pre-med students, Rameezah Ahmed of Danbury and Anika Qazi of Newtown, working with the Al-Hedaya Islamic Center youth group of Newtown to assemble and distribute mask kits to healthcare workers and underserved community members of Fairfield County.

The project is currently seeking donations to purchase the necessary materials for the kits, with a goal to raise $2,000 to make 3,000 masks (62 kits with each kit costing about $32). The deadline for these donations is May 24, 2020. Thereafter, an order will be placed for materials. Each kit will contain the following supplies to yield 50 masks: ●

*100 pieces of 6”x9” pre cut rectangles of cotton fabric

*100 6” pieces of elastic ●

* Bags to store and transport the kits.

The purpose of the project is to efficiently increase production rate in a shorter period of time.

If funding is procured, the organizers will work with the Al-Hedaya Islamic Center youth group to assemble their mask kits. Eman Beshtawii, president of the Islamic Center, notes that the youth group “is a bright group of promising children who are devoted to work day in and day out for this project. All funds collected will go 100 percent towards material purchase for advancement of this project.” Beshtawii added, “The youth group at Hedaya initiated the ‘Miracle Mask Project’ where the goal is to deliver quality masks at extraordinarily low cost to homeless shelters enabling safety and protection for the homeless population,” and “under the leadership of Rameezah Ahmed and Anika Qazi reached out to the Danbury Hospital whose representatives welcomed this effort and said they will use these masks for their healthcare staff and their patients. The Hedaya Islamic Center supports this project because it can provide quality reusable masks at a cost of less than a dollar.

If there is a lesson that this pandemic is teaching us, and we want our younger to learn, is that we are all together in this.”

After assembling, the mask kits will be given to volunteers to sew a kit with a preferred date, time, and pick up/drop off location (in either Newtown or Danbury) found on the website. Each volunteer will be given five days to complete one kit.

“Our project is dedicated to help those who are at high risk during this time of despair,” said Ahmed. “We have the idea and the devotion — we just need you!”

Visit gofundme.com and search “Miracle Mask Project.”

For more information on supporting this program visit https://rameezah2001.wixsite.com/miraclemaskproject.