Sew, how are you holding up?
The pandemic’s eff ect on home life at the Oregon Coast
By RACHEL BAIRD
& KRISTA MELONE
For the TODAY
I
s anyone else keeping tally marks on the
wall to count days in captivity? Oregon
is quickly approaching 40 days of Stay
Home, Stay Safe protocols. We have spent
weeks washing our hands, keeping our
distance and fi nding things to do. After
three weeks of looking at businesses and
organizations big and small, this week we
asked individuals “How are you holding
up?”
As it turns out human emotions run the
gamut, as one would expect. Introverts and
homebodies have trained for this their entire
lives and aren’t really seeing a big change.
Others are used to a full social calendar and
working closely with the public or large
groups; many of these are feeling the pinch
as they lose the human contact they crave.
Lincoln City Councilor Riley Hoagland
doesn’t think it is all bad. As a matter of
fact, he couldn’t come up with the hardest
part of all of this, because he says “it isn’t
hard, inconvenient? Sure, but not terrible.”
He has found ways to use this down time
to give him purpose, such as making face
masks. So far, he has made more than 150
masks. He started as soon as he learned that
there was a nationwide shortage of personal
protective equipment. Knowing that offi cial
frontline workers would need the N95s and
the medical-grade masks, he started sewing
handmade cloth masks that he donates
and sells to locals. He also keeps busy and
upbeat working on his art, honing his guitar
skills and spending time outdoors with his
children.
See Page 13
12 • oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • May 1, 2020
ABOVE: Lincoln City Councilor Riley Hoagland works on reusable cloth masks for donation and
sale. BELOW: A child plays in the early morning on an empty stretch of Lincoln City beaches.