Pet project: Store promo items used for masks

What's a Subaru dealership to do with an empty events calendar resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and a surplus of dog bandannas?

Help turn them into much-needed face masks.

That's the position Williams Subaru in Charlotte, N.C., found itself in.

Kate Downing, the store's director of marketing, said she began 2020 like any other year. She ordered various items the dealership would be giving away at off-site events throughout the year, including flying discs, water bottles, tote bags, key chains and, of course, dog bandannas.

But as the pandemic took hold, it became clear to the dealership that its planned events would have to be canceled, leaving the store with an excess supply of giveaway items.

As the demand for personal protective equipment surged, the local hospital system, Atrium Health, put out a request for homemade cloth face masks. The request sparked an idea for the dealership, Downing said.

"We have this material, it's just going to go to waste," she recalled. "Our events are being canceled, so we thought, let's see if we can find an organization to help sew the bandannas into masks."

The dealership had a connection for just that. The service manager's church had a volunteer sewing group that was looking for supplies to sew masks.

"That's when we were, like, 'Well, we have these bandannas. This is a perfect match,' " Downing said.

To create pleated masks that would be hospital-approved, the dealership had to quickly source additional materials, including elastic ear loops and a filter for each mask, Downing said.

After about a four-week period from the initial idea to delivery, the dealership, along with the volunteer sewers, turned the orange dog bandannas with a paw print and bone pattern into 150 reusable face masks.

In addition to the donation for the hospital, Williams Subaru donated masks to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Common Heart, a food pantry.