LIHU‘E — “This one works,” said Wilcox Elementary School Principal Corey Nakamura, Thursday morning as he leafed through the delivery of fabric face masks by representatives of the Lihu‘e Hongwanji Women’s Club. “It fits, you can talk without removing it completely, and there’s even a fitting so it doesn’t fall off your nose.”
LIHU‘E — “This one works,” said Wilcox Elementary School Principal Corey Nakamura, Thursday morning as he leafed through the delivery of fabric face masks by representatives of the Lihu‘e Hongwanji Women’s Club. “It fits, you can talk without removing it completely, and there’s even a fitting so it doesn’t fall off your nose.”
For health and safety reasons, the new mask’s approval gave ownership of the handmade mask to Nakamura, the approval drawing smiles of satisfaction from the LHWC group led by Lynette Mizuo, club president, and Carolyn Yamasaki, the chairperson for the LHWC face mask project.
“I was just thinking about how we need this,” Nakamura said. “These are especially useful because they’re designed for the younger students in kindergarten, and Grades 1 and 2. We have a thousand non-medical grade disposable masks that was provided by the Grove Farm Company. Those are more adult-sized and can be used by students in the upper grades. They don’t really fit the younger students.”
The Lihu‘e Hongwanji Women’s Club delivered more than 400 fabric masks in the younger child sizes, and more than 20 adult-sized masks, one of which became part of Nakamura’s inventory of masks.
“We did this, earlier,” Yamasaki said. “There are many LHWC members whose children attended Wilcox School. We also have members who are teachers and staff, here. The members, 26 people sewing over four sessions in a two-week period, worked hard to complete this project.”
Funds for material costs were derived through a Golden Chain Grant administered by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission Social Concerns Committee, and the LHWC members donated their services to assemble the masks.
Nakamura said once final plans for school are in place, they will figure out a system to distribute the masks to the appropriate student population.
“The main thing about these masks,” he said. “If a student forgets a mask, we’ll have some available, they don’t need to go home just because they don’t have a mask.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
