Way to Go! Glen Cove student makes masks for Long Island hospital

Virginia Graziosi, an eighth-grader at Robert M. Finley Middle School in Glen Cove, has sewn reusable cloth masks for health care workers at Glen Cove Hospital. Credit: Glen Cove School District
A Glen Cove student has been using her time away from school to help Long Island health care workers amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Virginia Graziosi, an eighth-grader at Robert M. Finley Middle School, has been sewing reusable cloth masks for staff at Glen Cove Hospital, where her aunt works in the radiology department. As of earlier this month, she had sewn about 100 masks.
To create the masks, Graziosi said she used a sewing machine she received as a Christmas gift and taught herself to use it through videos on YouTube.
"I wanted to help the people working on the front lines," said Graziosi, 13. "We are so thankful for everything our essential workers are doing to keep us safe during these strange and uncertain times."
Graziosi's masks are often worn over disposable surgical and N95 masks, extending the life of the masks for health care workers who have been reusing their personal protective equipment while caring for COVID-19 patients. The materials to make the masks were donated by a relative who is a seamstress, she said.
Graziosi plays violin in her school's orchestra and is in the Builders Club and National Junior Honor Society. She also volunteers at the Church of St. Rocco in Glen Cove, is a volunteer and student teacher at Let's Make Music Dance Studio in Sea Cliff, and attends a veterinarian program at LIU Post.