Like many, Elisabeth Donaldson—a successful actress, photographer,
stylist and Scientologist—found her life turned upside down in a matter of
hours once COVID-19 hit.
“I went from ‘living the dream,’ with two feature films in the works,
to my entire industry shutting down,” she said.
After recovering from the shock, Donaldson began searching for what she
could do. Donaldson’s mother, an award-winning quilter, had recently posted an
online tutorial on how to make face masks. Donaldson had been sewing since she
could remember, even dragging her mother to the fabric store as a child so she
could make a skirt for her stuffed hippo.
Donaldson pulled out fabric from her garage, hit the sewing machine and
posted a photo of her first on social media: a mask bursting with sunflowers,
announcing she was making the protective item for those who needed it. She
expected to get about 20 requests in all. She got about 400—in the first few
days.
Donaldson stayed up around the clock to fulfill the orders and donated
a mask for every one she sold. Soon she was furnishing local hospitals and
first responders with the trendy piece of protective gear, using special
superhero-patterned fabric for these humanitarians on the frontlines.
“I pick a hospital and drop off masks at their front door or provide
them to Salvation Army workers who are helping the homeless,” Donaldson says,
who has now donated hundreds of her creations with the help of her friend,
Sally Harvey Anderson. “These are the people putting their lives on the line to
care for the most at-risk populations or those who already have COVID-19, so
it’s incredibly satisfying to be able to provide them some calm and peace of
mind and to bring them comfort and health. It’s taking a situation that could
otherwise make you feel scared and strange and turning it into something that
can be potentially beautiful.”
While Donaldson has gotten orders from North Dakota to Philadelphia,
those who live in Nashville are invited to drop by Donaldson’s front porch to
pick up their masks to ease the burden on the post office. There, Donaldson
also provides the “How to Keep Yourself & Others Well” booklet, which lays
out with clarity the vital basics on a broad range of prevention measures,
including how to put on and take off a mask and gloves. The booklet, one of a
set of informational booklets downloadable for free on the online How to Stay
Well Prevention Resource Center, was created as a public service by the Church
of Scientology.
“The way that you manage any crisis is you learn what you need to learn
to stay safe, and you do what you can to stay productive and on top of it,”
says Donaldson through the chatter of her sewing machine, as she describes
spending her mid-April birthday making masks.
Donaldson attributes her ability to rebound and adapt to Scientology.
“Scientology gives you tools to help you recover quickly. What I’ve learned is
that life never stops being hard, but the more you can assist yourself to
become stronger and better equipped, the more you can deal with the
difficulties of life in an intelligent way,” she says. “If you have a system
that helps you deal with failure so you know how to get on top of a negative
situation, you’re just always going to be able to win.”
Donaldson feels she is one of many in Nashville stepping up, getting
things done, and making it happen. “This is why this is my home,” she says.
“This is a community filled with people who are always going to help each
other.”
“That’s what started it all is I just wanted to be helpful—to do something
that was useful. Fortunately, it became extraordinarily useful, and was able to
help me, help my friends and the community all at the same time.”
Donaldson’s contribution, she says, is making health and safety a bit
more approachable, aesthetic, comfortable and something that feels good, that
people can be proud of.
“I feel really lucky,” she says. “I keep thinking ‘I’m so lucky I can
sew.’”
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