Who IS that Mask Woman?
The first week of the Covid-19 shut down was a long one for Nancy and Bob Williamson. Bob, who works for VC Summer, was awaiting his Covid-19 test results. The test was negative, but the testing process gave the couple a scare, and they wanted to do everything they could to stop the virus’s spread. With a touch of fear and a keen awareness of vulnerable loved ones, Nancy researched how to make facemask on YouTube, found some fabric and a supply of elastic in her craft cabinet, and immediately got to work. She wasn’t sure how many masks she’d make, but she knew she wanted enough for her family and friends. And she had nothing but time.
Nancy posted her masks on Facebook and Instagram, and family, friends and neighbors picked up the goods from her porch and mailbox. Over time, as people all grew anxious to get up and out of the house, demand grew. Nancy kept at it and enlisted her sister Becky to help. Recipients would offer, “let me pay you for these,” but the women refused, saying, “We just want people to be healthy.”
More people stepped up to help. Sheila Veach, owner of Small Packages Catering is a friend of Nancy, and both are members of Our Lady of The Lake Church. With Sheila’s catering events canceled, she was devoting much of her time to delivering food to the elderly. When she heard what Nancy was doing, she started picking up masks to add to her care packages. She often left food for the Williamsons, not wanting anyone to have to stop sewing to cook.
We’ve all seen the graphics of how the virus can quickly spread from one person to 10 people, to 100 people. That is exactly the way Nancy’s masks were making their way around Chapin and beyond.
The mask making dream team, from left to right: Becky Bittinger, Nancy Williamson, Kelley McCutchen and Maggie Williamson
By the third week of March, Nancy’s mask making operation had an enlisted crew—each with a specific role. Nancy is in charge of public relations. As a Certified Business Advisor, Small Business Consultant, Website Designer, the Ambassador for the Chapin Chamber of Commerce, State Farm Representative, and a member of Our Lady of the Lake church, (whew!) she has a lot of connections in the community, and has always been all about getting the word—whatever that word may be—out.
Nancy’s sister, Rebecca Bittinger lives in Gilbert. As a recently retired nurse, she wasn’t going to let a little two-hour, round trip commute stop her from saving lives. With a brand new sewing machine—a gift from her husband —she travels from Gilbert to Chapin, where she almost instantly learned to sew. She’s made over 500 in the past three months.
Also on their dream team is neighbor Kelley McCutchen, their Research & Designer. Kelley keeps everyone organized as she irons pleats, and cuts fabric. She’s always thinking of ways to improve design. Sarah Hines is the official Quality Controller. She clips thousands of loose threads and inspects completed masks for holes, tears and any other problems that pop up. Maggie Mae Williamson, Nancy’s daughter, is sort of a Gal Friday. She takes care of mask deliveries, post office trips, lunch take out orders and pick ups. As a barista she also keeps the team’s spirit and energy up. Together, the team works at Nancy’s kitchen table, which they joking call a sweat shop “because the iron literally makes us sweat,” and breaks are rarely taken.
In addition to sending masks to neighbors, friends, fellow church members, and family, the team has made masks for the masses, including the ER staff at an Indiana hospital where Nancy’s sister in law works, Labor and Delivery at LMC, AnMed Health in Anderson, volunteers at Birthright of Columba, We Care, National Guard, a chemistry work crew at VC Summer, the staff at Chapin’s Higher Ground, and many, many people in need in and around the Midlands.
When someone thinks of a personal, traumatic event, they often envision it in slow motion, but slow moving parts and pieces can be a part of a positive event too. Such is the case in this story, where events aligned themselves both slowly and precisely, and timing was everything.
The Sticky Open is a golf tournament that raises funds for Chapin’s We Care Center. With her graphic design skills, Nancy usually helps design banners and advertising materials for the Sticky Open. But with this year’s event being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nancy knew that We Care would be in need. She also knew that Midlands Gives Day was fast approaching.
Hosted by Central Carolina community Foundation, Midlands Gives brings the region together as one, raising money and awareness for local nonprofits in 11 Midlands counties. In addition to being a year-round resource for donors across the Midlands, the initiative amplifies donations during an 18-hour online giving challenge on the first Tuesday of May. Since its inception in 2014 the event has raised $12.6 million for local nonprofits. To further motivate giving, participating nonprofits are eligible for prizes offered by local businesses and can secure matching funds to double donations received on Midlands Gives Day. A perfect storm was in the making.
Meri Ellen Ringer stands among several boxes of donated material from Material Things.
Meri Ellen and Paul Ringer own Material Things, a shop within The Gallery in Newberry. Material Things offers design and fabrication of custom window treatments, bedding and more. Fashion–whether dresses or drapes–is ever changing, and fabric options are changed/discontinued annually. Each year, Meri Ellen and Paul pull expired sample fabric books out of their showroom and post them on social media for their followers to pick up for free. Any crafter can tell you how serendipitous it is to have a book of beautiful fabric swatches on hand when the creative mood strikes. TC Bowers, owner of Palmetto Fine Arts in Chapin, saw the Material Thing’s free fabric Facebook post, and quickly drove to pick up the fabric books in Newberry and deliver it to Nancy in Chapin. The storm was slowly aligning.
Meri Ellen and Paul Ringer donated more than a trunkful of fabric!
Dominion Energy, where Nancy’s husband Bob works, also matches charitable donations during Midlands Gives. Suddenly Nancy realized that any money she could raise for We Care by May 5th would be tripled thanks to the event. After a month of making masks and perhaps a touch of burnout, Midlands Gives was exactly the motivation that Nancy and her team needed to put fresh wind in their sails. With new energy, from April 30 through May 5th, the team put the (sewing) pedal to the metal and accepted donations for the masks—with 100% of the profits being donated. They ended up with $3095, but because of the Midlands Gives event, that number was tripled (matched by both Dominion and the We Care Board) making their donation a whopping $9285.
Midlands Gives was over at midnight on May 5th. Nancy and crew hadn’t made plans to continue raising funds after that, but calls and messages requesting masks kept coming in. So they sewed on, and recently, donated another check to We Care for $2,552. At the time Chapin Magazine went to print, Nancy and her team had raised about $13,000 for Chapin’s We Care Center. [Update: As of June 29, Nancy and her team have, with matches and more contributions, donated over $23K to We Care!]
“Nancy Williamson is such a gift!” Executive Director of We Care, Alecia Klauk said. “She is an amazing example of a good neighbor in tirelessly finding ways to protect health, provide support, and promote giving. We could not be more grateful for her tireless efforts to bless We Care and our community!”
Nancy and Maggie Williamson, volunteering at We Care.
There are a lot of heroes in this story: Nancy and her sewing team, Midlands Gives, Alecia Klauk, the volunteers and Board at Chapin’s We Care Center; the husbands and families who have sacrificed time with their wives, and the many donors—one of whom bought a single mask for $300 and told the crew to spread their “seeds of love” across South Carolina. People like Meri Ellen and Paul Ringer, from Newberry to Gilbert, have donated supplies, fabric, thread and elastics... And it’s not over yet. The team plans to continue making masks until people stop wanting/needing them. Currently they are helping churches prepare for their openings.
“If we have saved one life, we are satisfied,” Nancy said. But they aren’t just helping people avoid Covid-19. They are helping a lot of suddenly unemployed people obtain needed food and necessary household goods like cleaning supplies and paper towels. With her donations tripled and protections doubled, it’s possible Nancy’s masks are saving just as many people from hunger as they are from Covid-19.
While the team is happy to raise money, they also want people to use their masks. “I don’t want the numbers to go back up.” Nancy said. Becky, a retired nurse adds,
“When you see someone wearing a mask, he or she is basically telling the people around him, ‘I care about you.’”
As the Student Representative on the We Care Board, Nancy’s son Michael recently presented We Care Center T shirts to the sewing team. “On behalf of the We Care Board, we want to sincerely thank you for the amazing things you are doing...” His thank you speech initially sounded a bit tongue in cheek. After all, he was presenting the t shirts to his mom, aunt and their friends in his own house. But he then he grew more serious. With a keen awareness of the void that would have existed if not for the team’s hard work, he sincerely and humbly thanked them, as we all do.
Nancy is still offering Porch Pickup. You can also find Nancy’s masks at Lake Murray Drug Company, The Classy Cruet in Chapin, or by calling/texting Nancy directly at 803.629.0101. One hundred percent of the money earned goes to We Care.
Porch Pickup
