ANGELES CITY — The Filipino’s innate spirit of compassion keeps bringing inspiration to many especially during this time of crisis around the world.
Jose Claver N. Toledo II, CEO and chair of the board of JCNT II Corp., decided to form a group called Six Mask-eteers (6M) with a mission to sew and donate face masks to anyone who needs it.
6M is a group of overseas Filipino private individuals based in Canada with a goal to produce free face masks for both Filipinos and non-Filipinos.
In a phone interview via Facebook, Toledo said the 6M face mask project began in March at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. They were supposed to travel across Eastern Canada in May only to be stranded due to the implementation of travel restrictions and they are now temporarily living in Mississauga, Ontario.
Toledo said, 6M began distributing face masks as a way for him to help others in protecting not only themselves but other people as well.
“At that time the idea wasn’t really in demand yet as some countries have been handling the situation really well like South Korea. But we still thought of the idea to make face masks as it is still going to keep us safer,” he said.
According to Toledo, he bought three brand new sewing machines to quickly sew what was initially just a small project he had for his friends and neighbors.
“I bought three brand new sewing machines, then I trained them to sew. We had to look for a pattern on the web and initially received donations from my friends here like bedsheets or any fabric that is for their disposal and sew them into face masks,” he said.
“It was a slow start but eventually we are able to set the pace. We have a craftsman doing the layout, we also have someone who’s doing the cutting and then I do the sewing until eventually I trained two more to sew face masks with me,” he added.
Toledo said 6M has also shipped 3,250 face masks to the Philippines as his initial drive which will be given to the Aeta communities, the homeless and those in urban poor areas. Toledo also mentioned he has already initiated a group in the Philippines as well to continue their efforts across the globe.
