ODESSA, Texas — By day she's a teacher.
By night she's been helping our frontline workers.
Maribelle Minyard calls herself a crochet aficionado.
And she's turned her favorite hobby into an essential service for nurses.
"In the evenings I love to crochet. It helps me relax, it helps keep my mind occupied, but I'm glad that I can use my skill or talent to help somebody out, especially right now in this time of need. Those nurses are working long hours and I'm sure that this might help relieve some of the pain they have with those masks," Maribelle Minyard, ECISD teacher said.
Maribelle first heard the call for help from her cousin in Fort Stockton that works as a home healthcare nurse, who shared that the masks they wore were tearing up and hurting their ears.
So Maribelle took to her yarn and tools to do what she does best.
She made over 15 ear protectors for these frontline workers and she's not done yet.
She just needs some more buttons.
"Mom and I have been looking through our old button boxes and trying to find them. So some of the buttons they may be getting may not match because we're using what we have but they're going to function. It's going to be functional," Minyard said.
With her curbside orders being cut short, these buttons have been hard to come by.
But she says she has an order coming in next week with more.
"We have been very fortunate with my husband's cancer treatments the past year that a lot of people have been real kind with us in many different ways, so this is just a way for me to pay it forward," Minyard said.
This is just one of many examples showing the heart of our West Texas community.