CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) - What started as a donation to help hospital heroes has blossomed into an ongoing relationship.
The San Diego chapter of the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association makes a point to help in any natural disaster. While they usually would step up to help with something like hurricane relief, they made it a point to help with the pandemic.
A woman connected to the group who also works at Sharp Chula Vista told the seamstresses that the medical workers at her hospital were in need of caps, so the ladies got to work. They made a batch of caps to donate, and haven’t put down their sewing machines since.
Every time the ladies make a batch of caps, the medical staff take a picture with the items and send it back to the creators.
“We love seeing those smiles from the medical professionals and we feel like we are really doing something for them because they work so hard for the community,” said Chunmei Carol Lin, President of the Taiwanese American Foundation of San Diego.
Since the start of the pandemic, the seamstresses have more than 1,000 caps for the Sharp Chula Vista staff, as of September. The Taiwanese AMerican Foundation of San Diego group and also the San Diego Taiwan Center also donated about $40,000 in PPE to the hospital.
Eventually, the continuing exchange of donations and pictures earned the group of women a nickname: "Sewing angels."
“We thought it was maybe a one, two-time thing but here we are months into COVID and we’re still getting donations from these hard-working ladies every other week without fail,” said Leslie Del Cruz-Torio, who works as a Patient Safety Program Coordinator and distributes the caps when they arrive.
