Aurora siblings making bedazzled way of keeping masks clean and ready

August 21, 2020 · 0 Comments

Have you ever taken off your face mask and, without thinking, set it down on a potentially dirty surface?

It happens to the best of us, but Aurora’s Kilpatrick sisters have come up with a dazzling way to keep masks not only handy but gleaming – while, at the same time, helping local women in need.

The Hartman Public School students are hard at work making custom beaded mask holders.

The sparkling creations, which can be personalized with your name and other words spelled out in beads and charms, are now on sale with the sisters donating 100 per cent of their profits to Abuse Hurts, formerly the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness.

“At first we wanted to make a necklace thing, but we thought these mask holders would be a lot more handy,” says Charlotte Kilpatrick, “almost 10,” who is looking forward to starting Grade 5 next month. “They make masks a lot easier to wear and, if you don’t need it, you can just have it dangle around your neck.”

At home, Charlotte and sister Madeline, “almost eight”, have a work station where things have only gotten busier in recent weeks. In fact, it has become something of a family operation with the sisters going out door to door in their community to drum up business and, once back at the command centre, dad helps with the metal clasps while mom handles the money rolling in.

And roll in it has. With a goal of raising $1,000 for Abuse Hurts, the girls already have nearly 100 orders to work through – with purple-beaded mask holders being particularly hot items.

“They just love purple and pink,” says Madeline. “We do the designs and just make them.”

The sisters first heard about Abuse Hurts through their mother, Shawna.

Acquainted with Abuse Hurts founder Ellen Campbell and other members of staff, she has taken her girls to their Newmarket offices to see their work in action.

“Abuse Hurts helps people who leave bad families, then they come in there and can have a makeover, eat lunch and get all kinds of stuff,” says Madeline.

“We really love Abuse Hurts and it is really special the work they do there,” adds Shawna. “The girls said they feel like they have a good and safe home –“

“And some people don’t,” says Madeline.

“We have a home we want to come back to, but some people don’t,” says Charlotte.

“[Charlotte and Madeline’s work] makes me so incredibly proud,” Shawna continues. “Just seeing how excited they are to donate and give the money – a couple of people have given them a tip and said, ‘You girls use this money to get yourself something,’ and they still want to put that in the pot to donate. It is just really nice to see them give back. It also keeps them very busy and, as a parent in this day and age during COVID when there is not much to do, it is nice to have them use their brains and hand-eye coordination. It has been really nice.”

The Kilpatrick family has made the collective decision to enrol their daughters into in-class learning programs once again this fall, and, once back at Hartman, they are looking forward to recruiting their friends into the mask holder-making initiative.

“When we start getting a lot of orders, we’ll ask our friends to help,” says Madeline.

Adds Charlotte: “We’re going to tell [classmates and friends] that it is for charity and it is going to help a lot of people. It is really fun to make them.”

But, in order to keep momentum, there are more ways the community can help. In addition to an initial investment of $65 in materials to get the ball rolling, they have received a number of bead donations from people in the Aurora area, including a significant donation of beads from a local jewellery company – but more purple beads are always welcome; as are metal clasps and a good supply of string.

“People in the community have been amazing,” says Shawna.

For more information on Kilpatrick Sisters Creations, including their custom beaded mask holders, email Shawna Kilpatrick at sblachin@hotmail.com. For more information on Abuse Hurts, including up-to-date ways to help, visit abusehurts.ca.

By Brock Weir