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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!” – Established 1985 – Locally Owned & Independent
’ ! l a c o L est at
‘The B Volume XXXV, Number 37
For the cause... Local business making masks
www.bitterrootstar.com
Montanans told to stay home except for essential activities, all nonessential businesses and operations temporarily restricted
Korenda Schultz of Stevensville started sewing face masks last week and hasn’t stopped. Her business, Bags-NPacks Embroidery, slowed due to the coronavirus and she wanted to help. Reading about the global shortage of face masks she reached out last Wednesday in an online forum held by Senator Jon Tester, Schultz asked which hospitals in Montana needed masks. The one person to respond
Korenda Schultz sewing masks to determine which pattern is best. She is grateful for those who are helping her assemble masks in the BagsN-Packs work room. Kriss Tripp photo.
was a nurse from Mississippi asking if she could sew masks for her hospice. The nurse sent a link for a pattern and Schultz reached out to her fellow church members for help. By last Monday they had 160 masks to send to the hospice in Mississippi. The nurse
sent 100 of those to a hospital in New Orleans and Schultz and her friends made her 100 more. As word spread, the Stevensville Fire Department and local doctors asked Schultz for masks. “I already make custom bags for the fire department so one
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Stay at Home directive now in effect statewide
By Marnie Craig
These face masks were sent to Florida.
Find the latest updates and information on the COVID-19 pandemic at www.bitterrootstar.com
of the fire chiefs asked if I could make 30 masks for his engines,” she said. “The people who worked for him came in got a pattern and learned how to make them and now they are making their own.” Schultz is both making masks and supplying others with what they need to make the masks at home. She is handing out kits of 50 at time. “I made over five different styles of masks and finally decided to stick to one style, the Deaconess style mask,” she said. “It is the fastest to make. I changed the size from 6-by-9-inch to 6.5-by-9-inch so they can fit over other masks if needed. These masks won’t protect anyone from coronavirus, they will be worn by the healthcare people who aren’t dealing with the virus so the PPE masks See MASKS, page 2
Governor Steve Bullock has issued a Directive requiring Montanans to stay home and temporarily closes all nonessential businesses and operations to curtail the spread of COVID-19 which went into effect on March 28. According to the Governer, this will buy time for health care workers on the frontlines and seeks to limit long term impacts to the state’s economy. “In consultation with public health experts, health care providers, and emergency management professionals, I have determined that to protect public health and human safety, it is essential, to the maximum extent possible, individuals stay at home or at their place of residence,” said GoverSee DIRECTIVE, page 3
Businesses deemed to be essential, such as pharmacies, remain open but are doing their part to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by encouraging call-in orders and curbsite delivery.
Washington Foundation donates to Montana food banks Bitterroot valley food banks offering curbside services By Michael Howell The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation announced last week that it has awarded $450,000 to 86 organizations that provide basic needs support to our communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Food distributors such as food banks and pantries make
up the bulk of the grant recipients, with the rest going to organizations that support the homeless or provide other basic needs support. “Basic needs organizations are critically important to helping Montana’s most vulnerable citizens,” Foundation Executive Director Mike Halligan said. “The Foundation wants to help alleviate the strain placed on these organizations by the COVID-19 crisis by giving them a cash infusion now, while at the same time helping them generate additional resources by leveraging our donation.” These organizations have current funding relationships with the Foundation and were selected
with the intention of providing the broadest level of support as quickly as possible. The award includes initial grants totaling $300,000 for emergency response to the health crisis. In addition, the Foundation is committing $150,000 more in matching grants. Each organization will be eligible for a matching grant of up to 50 percent of their initial grant amount. The matching grant is designed to help raise additional resources from the organizations’ local communities. Organizations in the Bit-
Shenzhen is a really large city, 23 million, on the border of Hong Kong. It is a very new city, only in existence for the last 20 years, and it is the tech center of China. Linton said that across China there really are no neighborhoods, instead, hundreds of thousands of sky rise apartment complexes. The complex they lived in housed 10,000 people in one building alone. There are about 100,000 in the complex itself. Because Shenzhen is on the border near Hong Kong, the couple were able to go there a couple times a month. “China itself is very homogenous, the food and everything. Hong Kong gave us a taste of home.” But it wasn’t all great. They were there during the protests by
Hong Kong residents concerning Hong Kong’s laws about extradition to Mainland China. Linton said it was one more historical event they had seen this last year. In China, the entire country shuts down for Chinese New Year. This year it was January 15. Linton and O’Connor had planned their vacation to include a trip to South Korea to see friends, then to Japan, and finally to Vietnam. “Because of the massive size of China itself, we were participating in human history, the sheer amount of people traveling abroad from China.” He said they weren’t worried about the outbreak of the novel Corona virus at that time. They were close to 2,000 miles
See FOOD BANKS, page 3
Couple heads home to Bitterroot during pandemic By Jean Schurman Two visitors to the valley, Eli Linton and Caitlin O’Connor, have had an up close and personal view of the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning. Linton, who grew up in Hamilton, and his partner O’Connor have been in the Bitterroot for the past few weeks after leaving Asia because of the pandemic. “We’ve been running from this disease all around the world since January,” said Linton. “It’s been stressful.” Linton grew up in Fresno and moved with his family to Hamilton in 1998. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he attended college and then taught social studies in the public schools
Eli Linton and Caitlin O’Connor returned to the Bitterroot from China where they experienced the COVID-19 pandemic as it spread through Asia.
there. He was a union representative during the teachers’ walkouts a couple of years ago. During this time, he also completed his masters in administration. “I was experiencing some discontentment with the education system there, and I wanted to see the world,” he said. He looked into teaching in different areas and was looking at South Korea when one of the recruiters suggested China instead. He told Linton there were many opportunities there and so Linton decided to go there. He and O’Connor, who had been living in California and teaching English as a second language, decided to give China a try. They quit their jobs in May and moved to Shenzhen, China, in early August.
CELEBRATING OUR 25TH YEAR www.cooksgardensthegreenhouse.com 177 Golf Course Rd • Hamilton • 363-0212 (for hours & specials)
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