Coming back to campus in the middle of a pandemic can be a scary prospect for students and university staff alike. Coming back to Viterbo University, though, ought to be a less daunting endeavor because of the integral core values.

“At Viterbo, there’s just a better attitude,” said Theresa Smerud ’80, who figures students will be more careful about doing what’s needed to prevent spread of COVID-19. “Being Franciscan is all about always putting others before yourself.”

Kathy Duerwachter, Viterbo’s director of alumni engagement, shares Smerud’s optimism and has no doubt students will come to campus with face masks, a vital part of the effort to stop viral spread. But thinking about students having to wear face masks so much and the importance of having clean masks to wear, Duerwachter launched an effort to enlist help from Viterbo alumni to get more face masks into the hands of students.

The first phase of the alumni mask making project aims to have at least 600 face masks in hand by Aug. 20, in time to distribute them to students as they return. In addition, it is hoped that people will keep sending masks through Oct. 10 for a stockpile to replace lost and worn out ones.

Alumni also are being asked to write notes of encouragement on downloadable Viterbo note cards and send them in for students.

Just a week after launching the mask project with an email to alumni, Duerwachter said more than 100 notes of inspiration had been submitted, and she had pledges to donate nearly 800 masks already. 

An emeritus alumni board member, Smerud jumped right into the project as soon as she heard about it. This was right up her alley, and she quickly sent Duerwachter a note: “Just an FYI, I did a big program like this. I know how to do this.”

Smerud has been the costume designer for the La Crosse Community Theatre for many years. When the pandemic shut everything down in March, she was working on costumes for a production of “Sweeney Todd.”

In March the LCT costume shop was brimming with surplus cloth and the dozen volunteers who helped sew costumes had time on their hands, so they launched a project to make masks as a fundraiser for the community theatre.

Between the LCT people and a few more volunteers from Touch of Class, where Smerud works, they made more than 1,300 masks in less than a month. After that, they made nearly 600 additional masks for Aptiv, an organization that serves people with disabilities.

To get the Viterbo mask making project going, Smerud turned to the LCT volunteers, and they didn’t let her down. “They all said yes within two hours,” Smerud said. “I knew they would absolutely step up. Some of these ladies haven’t stopped making masks. They do a great job. I know these ladies can crank them out.”

Smerud and her crew are making reversible face masks in Viterbo’s red and blue colors, with adjustable elastic that goes around the head and neck rather than around the ears. These masks are a modified “Olson style,” and Smerud is doing all the cutting and piecing, putting together packages and a no-contact pickup system for her volunteer crew.

Smerud said the masks they made for LCT were widely praised for their comfort. One nice thing about the design is the masks can be worn around the neck when they don’t need to be on the face. That makes them harder to lose.

Smerud’s batch of masks also will come with guidance for students on proper care of the masks, which should be washed after every use, even if it’s only by hand.

Another member of the alumni board also stepped up right away for the mask making project. Doris Doherty-Gasper ’66, ’91, ’08, a retired nurse, is sewing masks herself as well as recruiting and organizing other alumni volunteers. During an Aug. 5 virtual reunion of the St. Francis School of Nursing, Doherty-Gasper put in a plug for the mask making project, and so far she has at least seven recruits, mostly from the nursing field, plus pledges of money to help buy materials.

“Quite a few nurses also do some sewing,” Doherty-Gasper said. “They find it is a source of relaxation and creativity.”

Doherty-Gasper also is creating Olson masks, but she emphasized that any masks donated by alumni, whether hand-made or purchased, will be greatly appreciated, as will any financial donations to help with material costs or to buy factory made masks. “We’ll take whatever people send us if they’re decently made,” she said.

Between the masks and the notes, the idea is to help make sure students are feeling welcome and safe when they come back to school.

“They’re kind of a hug, a hug from an alum,” Smerud said. “It’s just what you do at Viterbo. The Franciscans have a way of getting under your skin and getting to your soul.”

For La Crosse area residents, there is a contactless way to drop off masks and notes. People can drop donations in a bin just inside the Jackson Street  door of the Reinhart Center. Duerwachter asks that masks and notes be put in a resealable plastic bag along with the donors name and a count of masks and notes inside the bag. 

Find more details on how to help on this page.