"You Are Like Our Guardian Angels"

Mexico City        
 
When COVID-19 hit Mexico, stay-at-home orders emptied cities, leaving many people without a way to provide for their families.

Margarita, a single mom, used to work as a seamstress for a small manufacturer, but when orders stopped coming in, the business shut down and she lost her job.

“We’ve been suffering a lot,” she told us. “My son and I depended 100% on my income. If I’m out of a work we have nothing to eat.”

With no way to earn money from her job, or even from side work, Margarita grew desperate. “We did not have any money, not even for...for anything. It’s been a very hard time." 

So Operation Blessing came up with a plan to help Margarita, while addressing another growing challenge in Mexico: a shortage of quality face masks.

We began with a designer, who created a cloth mask pattern that can accommodate an additional replaceable filter for maximum protection.  

We then purchased and delivered a large supply of cloth and other supplies needed to manufacture 15,000 masks.

Finally, we and hired Margarita and other skilled seamstresses to make the masks.  

“We’ve been through such hard times,” said Margarita. “We were already struggling financially before the pandemic hit so this project couldn’t have been more perfect for us.” 

With the money they made from making the masks, Margarita and other single moms told us they earned enough to support themselves in this difficult season.  

And Operation Blessing will have plenty of high quality masks to hand out to those with high risk jobs in public markets, clinics and in other high traffic areas.  

“I really believe you are like our guardian angels. Without you, without this blessing, we would not have been able to think about providing for our needs. Thank you so much, I pray God will bless you for this!” she said.