ORANGE, Va. (AP) - MaryKenna Carmody hopes a few stitches in time will save the lives of children with cancer-as well as keep others from getting COVID-19.
She’s a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Orange Elementary School, and her family, including parents Dennis and Carrie Carmody, are friends with the Blaine family. Richard and Carly Blaine’s daughter, Ellie, died of a rare brain tumor in 2013, and the 2-year-old “princess” was the inspiration for Ellie’s Elves, a local group that helps other families going through similar traumas.
When Orange students returned to the classroom two days a week last fall as part of a hybrid learning plan, MaryKenna’s mother, Carrie, a kindergarten teacher at Orange Elementary, needed masks for her students and fellow teachers.
MaryKenna’s stepgrandmother, Anne Gordon–Arbogast, is a retired school teacher, and she had been sewing-and donating-hundreds of masks to friends and family, doctors’ offices and church members, teachers and workers at Dogwood Village of Orange County, where her father is a resident on the assisted-living side.
MaryKenna saw the flurry of fabric and thread and wanted to be part of it. She stays at Gordon–Arbogast’s house two mornings each week, before she goes to in-school classes, and told her stepgrandmother she wanted to sell masks and raise money for St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Ellie’s honor.
And she needed help.
“I just thought it was so dear that she wanted to do something, so how could I not say, ‘Yeah, I’ll help you,’ ” she said.
The two didn’t have to search through haystacks for needles-or material. Like many crafters, Gordon–Arbogast had leftover pieces from various projects.
“MaryKenna has always been curious about what’s in my craft stash and my sewing stash,” the stepgrandmother said. “So we have a good time.”
The two haven’t kept count of the masks sewn, but MaryKenna proudly announced at the end of December that she had raised more than $700 for St. Jude’s. She donates $3 of each $5 mask to the research hospital, and has learned one of the best ways to advertise the variety of prints available is to wear different masks to school.
Asked how she picks, she answered: “It kind of depends on what I’m wearing that day,” adding that she likes to match colors and styles.
To date, her favorite has been a silly print of cats wearing glasses, but she also enjoys seasonal trends. The two seamstresses have made masks featuring leaves and turkeys for the fall; Charlie Brown, red trucks and Grinches for Christmas; handprints of children for teachers; and flaming masks that say “Fire One” for members of MaryKenna’s father’s firefighting crew in Washington, D.C.
A scrap of old fabric featuring Monopoly money was a big hit, and others have requested masks featuring Harry Potter or the Air Force, the Washington Nationals and Dallas Cowboys.
MaryKenna’s current favorite is “fabric with sparkly snowflakes on it.”
In addition to mastering marketing, MaryKenna also has pinned down the finer points of sewing. She’s learned about using stencils and cutting out pieces, stitching linings, ironing pieces and attaching elastic ties. She also knows how to thread the sewing machine and wind bobbins so well that Gordon–Arbogast gave her a sewing machine for Christmas.
“MaryKenna is very creative, she’s a quick learner, and she has done so well with this project,” her stepgrandmother said. “She’s pretty excited. We went through my fabric stash and found a whole bunch of fabric to take home.”
The girl would like to keep her sewing machine in her room, but her parents thought better of it.
“I understand why they won’t let me,” MaryKenna said, adding that, “I’ll be sewing all night” if a machine were that near.
She has plans to make blankets for her Barbies and curtains for her room, but first she’d like to sew, and sell, enough masks to donate $4,000 to St. Jude’s. Anyone interested in ordering masks can contact Gordon–Arbogast at Anne.Arbogast@comcast.net.
Joni Kanazawa, director of Ellie’s Elves, was thrilled that a child would honor Ellie’s memory.
“With so many things going on in our world right now, it’s amazing, especially when you step out of your bubble to do something for others,” she said. “What a sweetheart.”
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