From the October 2020 Desktop News | When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Lisa Dorr knew she had to do something to help her family and her community. As someone from a long line of quilters, Dorr decided to put her hands to work and create a variety of masks.

“I’ve been a quilter for many years, as has my mom—she runs a quilt store in Michigan,” Dorr said. “Quilters always joke about their fabric library, which is all the fabrics that you’ve just accumulated over the years. My mom was spending spring break with us, and right after spring break, we decided we were going to start making masks together. At that point in time, we didn’t know if there was going to be a way to get masks, so we just started making masks, and I continued to do that over the summer. It was a good way to use up the fabric in my fabric library.”

Over the summer, when faculty and staff began to return to campus, there was a concern that masks would be in short supply. Because of this, Dorr decided to bring the masks she created to campus, and sell them to raise funds for the Rising Tide Scholarship.

The Rising Tide Scholarship provides a helping hand to students facing some type of obstacle or hardship throughout their time in the College of Arts and Sciences. As associate dean of social sciences, Dorr has helped many students through the scholarship, and wants to help as many more as possible.

“In my role as associate dean, I am always coming across students who have some sort of crisis that they need financial help, so the College started the Rising Tide Scholarship for them,” Dorr said. “And because I know how often students need that kind of help, I know the scholarship could use all the donations that it can get.”

Since she began selling her masks, Dorr has raised over $400 for the Rising Tide Scholarship. Dorr offers a variety of designs and fabrics ranging from gameday elephant masks (pictured above) to Halloween-themed masks. Each mask is a minimum $5 donation, and can be paid via Venmo or cash.

To purchase a mask, visit the Dean’s Office lobby on the first floor of Clark Hall, or email lisa.dorr@ua.edu.