FIGHTING COVID-19
Just a selection of the thousands of products manufactured for NHS staff by NI Scrubs
Angeline picks up donated scrub tops from Almac, Craigavon.
Firmus make a fabric delivery to Armagh.
FIRMUS ENERGY’S VERY OWN ‘ANGEL’ OF THE NORTH RESPONDS TO PPE SHORTAGE...
Astitch in time
A ngeline Murphy, Marketing Manager with natural gas company Firmus Energy, has been at the forefront of a campaign to produce scrubs for frontline NHS staff tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. A former competitor on the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee and regular sewing guru on RTE’s Today Show with Maura and Daithi, Angeline was inspired to join and set-up fundraising for NI Scrubs, a network of stitchers, in response to the growing demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Making light of the fact that she is currently on maternity leave (becoming a mum for second time just five months ago to Eoin, she is also mum to three-
year-old Luke) Angeline recognised the need for a concerted effort. “I am a passionate home stitcher and well known in Northern Ireland’s close-knit sewing community,” said Angeline. “There was a Facebook group started by a girl from Omagh and she was searching for second hand scrubs. Then a friend of hers said I could stitch you up a pair. Later, I saw that on Instagram Elody Bridal in Newry had put up a story asking people to sew and I thought: ‘Oh yeah, I do that.’ I innocently enough started stitching up a few, then I put up a post on Facebook about it and there were hundreds upon hundreds of shares. I began stitching scrubs on my own back in late March, but the requests from
NHS workers were flowing in and I soon realised the need to call in reinforcements. I’m fortunate to have thousands of followers on my social media channels and it only felt right to get involved in this stitching marathon. We are all in this together and I’m just doing what I can to support our NHS heroes in these terrible circumstances.” Amazingly, this self-confessed sewing addict saw the NI Scrubs’ ranks grow from 50 volunteer stitchers to 2500 in just THREE days. A GoFundMe page (Search for Scrubs Fabric Fund) set up to raise money for materials, also took little time to surpass the initial £500 target [which currently sits at over £30,000]. “I didn’t want people going out and spending money on fabric, I spent between £80 and £90 on fabric to make 10 scrubs. That’s not really feasible. That’s when the GoFundMe page started.”
Angeline was inspired to set-up NI Scrubs, a network of stitchers, in response to the growing demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
8 | PLUMBING & HEATING MAGAZINE
FOLLOW US ON:
www.plumbingmag.com
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online