Spread out over close to 50 locations spanning two counties, not all of #TeamADEC gets to meet each other or work with the same clients but everyone instinctively bands together for the same cause.

A #TeamADEC meeting occurred on Tuesday at the Bristol Day Center, but the agenda had nothing to do with their Bristol and Elkhart Plaza-based positions for Rana Adams, Ashley Frayre, Carla Martin and Isabell Runyan. What brought them together on Tuesday had nothing to do with the professional skills which make them all such valued #TeamADEC members.

All four of them know how to sew.

Their colleagues in residential homes, like pretty much everyone on the planet Earth these days, badly need protective masks for their own safety and that of the medically-vulnerable clients they care for.

So the four set up camp in the Bristol Day Center’s sewing room, threw some music on over the building’s speakers, and turned the crafting inventory into masks.

Some of the raw materials on hand had Christmas prints on them. Some of the materials had other colorful designs one would never expect to see in a clinical setting and will make for a pretty bold fashion statement. But if any of the 300 masks they hope to sew over this rest of this week save even one client or staff life, no one will care.

“You can’t just go to a store or go online and buy even basic masks,” Adams said speaking for the group. “Hospitals, states, everyone everywhere are fighting for them. This is our way of giving back.”

“We know our staff and clients need these masks. We all work in health care with our clients but it is not the same vocation. Not everyone can keep a safe social distance like we usually can. A lot of our clients need to have their physical needs met like having dinner cooked for them or even assistance toileting where you can’t be six feet away. This is just another positive thing we can do to help our clients and also the staff that has to do 24-hour care for them.”

While everyone seemed to be enjoying their time sewing for a cause, across the parking lot in the Bristol administration building, ADEC’s leaders were similarly enjoying what they saw.

“Something like this is the perfect example of what I mean when I talk with pride about #TeamADEC,” said ADEC President / CEO Donna Belusar. “These are trying times for all of us. Seeing our wonderful staff taking the time to handcraft masks for their teammates is the epitome of why I love working here so much.”

“With so much of ADEC on pause, it’s been hard for many of our dedicated workers who want to help and be involved but their roles can’t be operating right now because of the COVID concerns,” said ADEC vice president for non-residential operations Michelle McGuin who set up the project. “We’ve been looking for ways to keep everyone active and I was thrilled to see the response to this call for help for our residential staff.”

It was a call the four were glad to answer – not only for the satisfaction of possibly saving a life, but also simply to break up some of the socially distant monotony which has beset their lives of late – like so many of us.

“I’m excited to come in here just for a change of pace,” Adams said, remarking at how much quicker today’s commute was than normal with so much less traffic on the roads.

Slowly but steadily a pile grew with completed works and, with it, the realization that the #TeamADEC concept is anything but a masquerade.