Ella Shemesh, 14, sewed more than 200 headbands for healthcare workers this summer. She sewed buttons onto headbands for healthcare workers to use, so they could hook the loops of their masks onto the buttons. 

When a family friend, an obstetrics nurse, complained about pain behind her ears from her mask, Ella and her mom, Kira, thought of a project they saw on Facebook and ordered the materials to create something similar. Ella already knew how to sew: she was only 6 or 7 years old when she picked up the practice by watching her grandma do it. 

Ella and Kira wanted to do what they could to help their friend relieve the pain behind her ears and ultimately sewed headbands for the nurse’s entire department. Kira said Ella ran with the project, creating hundreds of headbands to provide to healthcare workers for free. When they received orders as large as 25 headbands at a time, Ella took the initiative to complete it. 

They did not accept payment for the headbands. Instead, they accepted donations to keep purchasing materials. 

Each mask took 3 to 4 minutes to make, Ella said, and she made them consistently for about a month and a half until she started a summer job as a camp counselor for Chabad. She enjoyed picking buttons to match patterns on the headbands. 

Being 14 in a pandemic isn’t easy, Ella said. 

“You're constantly eager to go hang out with people, but you know it's not right to expose yourself,” she said.

At the start of the pandemic, she was juggling school, rest and exercise. She said she did not want her skills to get rusty while she had to take a break from sports. 

Kira described a reflection that Ella shared with her: “In the beginning we felt so helpless. This was our way of feeling like we are doing something to give back.” 

“I mean she’s just amazing, she’s incredible, she’s always willing to help,” Kira said. “Whenever she sees a problem, she tries to problem solve. She's a friend that I think anyone feels like they can go to for advice, she is very sympathetic and loving.”

Ella has returned to school, except now she is a freshman at Carmel High School. But she still plans to seek volunteer opportunities in her free time. She said when someone needs help, she does whatever she can to provide support. 

“It may not be a global impact, but you're still going to be able to help more people than none,” Ella said about volunteering. “It's always, it's just always a good thing to do, even if you don’t think it's going to go someplace, you're going help more people than none, so you might as well do it.”