SOMERSET — Amy Phillips said that when she had to close her daycare on March 13 because of the pandemic, it hit her hard emotionally. The 13 children who had been coming to her daycare would not be there anymore as long as the social distancing guidelines are in place. Phillips decided she wanted to do something that showed how much she cared about her community.

"I needed to find something to do to have a good purpose," Amy said.

Amy talked to her husband, Corey Phillips, about providing protective face masks to people in the area to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Corey thought they could make the masks, but Amy felt her strength was more in communicating and networking with people. She found some people who were advertising that they make masks. Amy went to them and told them that she could provide the fabric, elastics and thread to them to make masks and then she could deliver them to people who need them. She said she could also cut the patterns for the women who are making the masks. Amy started the project on March 30 and since that time, she and her team have provided over 375 free masks to people who need them.

"Our goal, our motto now, is to cover one face at a time," Amy, who lives in Somerset, said.

The people making the masks are Cindy Silva, a Somerset resident, as well as Theresa Medeiros, a Fall River resident, along with her mother, Rita Vasconcellos, and sister, Patti Amaral, of Fall River, and Chandra Orrill, of Fall River. Somerset senior citizens Mary Pellerin and Diane Preble are also making masks for Amy to get to people. Amy said they have made over 430 masks so far.

"Some people have made 10 masks to well over 100 masks," Amy said. "I tell them every single mask you make can save a life, so it doesn't matter if you make two or make one hundred."

Amy cuts out rectangles from the fabric, cuts elastic and cuts filter paper. She said she tries to provide everything needed to make the masks so that the other women don't have to spend money because she wants them to spend their time making the masks. She said elastic is like "liquid gold" right now because of all the masks that are being made. Amy said elastic is difficult to find and when she can order it, it takes 12 days to come in. She said the price of elastic has also gone up.

Amy and Corey have spent as much time as four hours in a day delivering the masks from home to home. They have delivered them to people in Somerset, Swansea, Fall River, Berkley and Taunton.

Besides giving the masks to local people, they have also been mailed to people in New York, Connecticut and in the Boston area.

When she recently made an announcement on Facebook to see who needed masks, Amy said she got 127 requests.

"I had to shut it down because it was so overwhelming," Amy said. "I told them when we get more, we'll let people know."

Amy said a lot of the people who they are delivering masks to can't get out of their homes. She said either they don't have transportation, are older or are afraid to go out. Amy said a man she gave a mask to had tears in his eyes and insisted she take a donation from him. She told her husband when she got back into the car that the man may have given her his last four dollars he had and when she opened the envelope up, there was four dollars in it. Amy said she has met a lot of amazing people during the project. She said they want to hug her, but can't because of social distancing.

"I have met so many people who were in tears, whether they were grateful or afraid," Amy said.

Amy said a child of one of the women who is making the masks said to his mother that she could sell the masks, but the mother said people are dying and this is what she has to do to help.

Amy said they have accepted small donations used to pay for stamps and envelopes to mail masks and also for elastics. The Jo-Ann Fabrics store in Swansea has been providing free kits to make masks to people who drive up curbside.

Amy said the masks are being made in a few different designs and sizes for men, women and children. Earlier this week, they were preparing about 100 male masks made with a New England Patriots design.

"This just shows how important home economics is now because there are so few people who know how to sew, so few people who know how to cook, so few people who know how to budget," Amy said.

For Easter, Amy, who is the owner of The Learning Child Home Care, Inc. in Somerset, said she brought tulips, soaps and chocolates to the women who are making the masks. One of the women said it was nice to come home to see that gift on her doorstep. When they are done with the project, Amy said she will use some of the donations to buy a nice dinner for the women making the masks.