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She found her mom's sewing machine in the attic. Now she can't stop making masks for health care workers.

Unemployed, with her wedding postponed, Maia Costello decided to do good for others.

DECATUR, Ga. — Maia Costello gets it.

“It’s really easy right now to see all of the hard, terrible things that are happening in the world," she told 11Alive's Matt Pearl. "I think it’s really easy to go to the negative.”

If anyone had reason to go to the negative, it was Costello. The COVID-19 pandemic forced her and her fiancé to postpone their May wedding. It's left both out of work, chewing into their savings.

What's often just as hard, she says, is “seeing the statistics and seeing people losing their lives."

But, she says, "It’s just as easy to see all the beautiful, wonderful people and the hope and the love in the world right now.”

Costello decided to bring hope. She found her mom’s old sewing machine in the attic. She learned to sew. And she began making masks for health care workers. Then she extended her arms to her community through a simple post on Facebook.

“I just held up a little thing that said, ‘Please read this post. It’s almost my birthday,'" she said. “I asked them if they would be able to donate - two dollars, five dollars, ten dollars - and I’d be able to continue to purchase materials and make masks for health care workers."

Within 24 hours, she had raised nearly $1,600.

So far Costello has produced more than 100 masks. It doesn’t change the overwhelming need – or the overwhelming negative of this pandemic. But it does provide a path of positive.

“People want a purpose right now," Costello said. “At a time where it’s difficult for a lot of people right now, myself included, I think it’s a really great example of hope.”

Costello is part of a group called Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals. In Atlanta alone their 8,500 members have produced and delivered more than 22,000 masks.

11Alive is focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus.

We want to keep you informed about the latest developments while ensuring that we deliver confirmed, factual information. 

We will track the most important coronavirus elements relating to Georgia on this page. Refresh often for new information. 

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