Eric Kim wants to make sure that amid the coronavirus pandemic, people who are hearing-impaired can communicate safely.
A high school junior living in Oregon, Kim lost the hearing in his left ear a few years ago. He had been volunteering at an elementary school for hearing-impaired children, and "wondered how these kids there would even be able to get masks and communicate so they could live life normally," he told The Oregonian.
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"It was a lot harder than I thought," Kim said, since he had never sewed before. His mom helped him a little in the beginning, but "it took a lot of mistakes with the materials before I got used to it," he said. It takes him between three and four hours to make each one, and so far, he has churned out 13 masks — and has many more to send out. "As long as people keep requesting, I'll be making masks whenever I have time," he said. The masks are free, and Kim will send them anywhere.
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