We’ve seen a lot of innovation in the last few weeks, but we enjoyed this story from Alpe d’Huez.
Francoise Berthet, an ESF instructor, and her neighbour Julien André have been making masks out of old ESF outfits.
“My neighbour, Sophie André, is a dietician at CHU hospital in Grenoble, and knew about the shortages of specialist equipment well before everybody else,” said Berthet.
Ski suits donated by ESF
“I realised that the raw material was the wadding that our ski suits are full of so after Sophie came back with a ‘official’ pattern of a mask made by the hospital, we got our sewing machines into action.”
The word went out to the ESF team in Alpe d’Huez and led to donations of ski suits. The wadding was removed and offcuts used to make solid, sustainable shopping bags.
Masks supplied to local key workers
“We are supplying masks to care homes and nurses in Bourg d’Oisans, as well as cashiers, delivery drivers, postmen and boulangeries in Alpe d’Huez. We have probably made 180 so far.”
“It’s very motivating. While being on lockdown, we might as well do something to help, don’t you think?”
We certainly agree, Francoise. Chapeau!