Sustainable Bridal Designer Sanyukta Shrestha begun the urge to protect the homeless in the UK by making eco-friendly reusable masks for them and donating through CRISIS UK.

In Photo: Designer Sanyukta and her 6 year old daughter Ameya

After the Government’s CDC recommendations for the U.K. to force masks in public to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, the designer’s team is making hundreds of masks for the homeless and reaching out to them via Crisis. Crisis is a charity that was formed in 1967, as an urgent response to the growing homelessness crisis and has helped since then thousands of people out of homelessness, providing them with a range of different types of support, from supplies to mental health and legal services as well.

“In order to help homeless people in the UK we reach out to as many charities as we could find working for the homeless, when we were then contacted by CRISIS, a non profit charity which works directly with homeless people in the UK. We were glad to reach out to homeless people who are in desperate need of protection by providing them with reusable handmade masks that we lovingly made”.

During the past 2-3 months the Nepalese born designer and her team have been devoting their lockdown time for making and donating thousands of masks, PPE for the NHS and key workers in the UK while also donating handmade special masks & food supplies to Ama ko Ghar (shelter for homeless in Nepal). The brand always believed in the transforming power of kindness so the designer’s team, the youngest from 6 years old Designer’s daughter Ameya to the 65 years old head-fitter Gina, together have been making masks with their compassion, commitment and solidarity.

“We have received the masks and they look great so thank you very much. With the lockdown measures being relaxed our Skylight building is becoming a lot busier with homeless members who will benefit from the masks, so the timing of the delivery is perfect.” – CRISIS, UK

Crisis estimates according to a recent research conducted by Heriot-Watt University that there are roughly 12,300 rough sleepers in the UK and 12,000 people sleeping in sheds, bins, cars, tents and night busses.

“People go through this rough phase for various circumstances, especially but Covid-19, this outbreak many people have lost their jobs and end up sleeping in the streets. I feel we should not be forgetting about caring for the homeless population and we want them to know that “They Matter”. Our small effort could protect them, fighting this harsh situation and will continue our effort in coming days”, Designer adds.

As a sustainable brand, the designer encourages people to opt for reusable masks to reduce the burden to earth as plastic pollution is on high rise. ‘The disposable non-surgical masks should be used for medical purposes as hospitals would need them constantly especially during the Pandemic. Instead of donating single-use disposable plastic masks, we are making and donating handmade masks that are durable, washable, reusable so it will last longer and be kind to the planet. In this pandemic, we should not only take care of each other but our planet as well’, the designer concludes.

In photo: Our head fitter Gina making masks with pride and love

In Photo: Youngest member of our team 6 years old Ameya, helping in making masks for homeless

In Photo: One of our amazing team Swornima showing team love after successfully sewing hundreds of masks

In Photo: Designer Sanyukta herself, a drive behind this project