Dwight Goins is lending a hand by making masks for first responders. John Cádiz Klemack reports for the NBC4 News on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.
Ninety-one-year-old Dwight Goins had taken up sewing after his wife of 40 years died.
He started making handbags for the homeless and homebound. Now he's got another mission -- mask maker.
Working with the fabric he already has from all those trips to Goodwill, Goins is now sewing face masks for hospital workers and first responders near his home in Upland.
"We decided to make the masks for the hospital and friends and it's got carried away now," he said with a laugh.
With the help from his daughter Carol, who also enlisted her church's charity arm called Hope Worldwide, they've committed to 5,000 face masks.
"They're very grateful because masks are so hard to find right now," Carol said.
It started with a template they found online: colorful, breathable and useable for those who need them.
Goins says a family friend who's a firefighter even put in an order for his team at the station, with the request they match the uniforms.
"Right now they want six to try," he said. "We'll make more than that. They want navy blue."
For Goins, the mission is personal. He knows that at his age he's considered high risk for the COVID-19 virus.
Things might be slowing down physically, but he's pushing forward, while staying at home.
"Well I don't go anywhere," he said. "I'm right here at the house all the time."
