MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas — A young girl in Kingwood who was overcome with anxiety at the start of the pandemic figured out a way to transform her negative energy into something powerfully positive.
At just 13 years old, Izzy Powell has changed her dining room into a sewing workshop. This is where, for the past four months, she’s worked to make life just a little bit safer for her community.
When the pandemic first started, Izzy was overcome with anxiety.
“As a mom, you want to be able to help your child, and you can’t help her,” said Larissa Powell, Izzy's mother. “And I didn’t know what to do to calm her down.”
They came up with a plan to redirect that nervous energy into a positive one: making face masks.
“She said I would like to do something to help my community,” Powell said.
Izzy, her mom and their neighbor, Crystal Crawford, watched YouTube videos and figured out how to make masks.
“At first, it took us, like, two hours to do one, and now it takes us about five minutes!” her mother said.
What started as a small effort soon turned into 10 hours of mask sewing a day, every day. They stopped counting how many they’d made once they hit 5,000.
The trio, who have dubbed themselves the "Maskers of Disaster," have given their masks away to fire and police stations, businesses and schools, including Izzy’s, Kingwood Middle.
Assistant Principal Jennifer Holloway says knowing Izzy, they weren’t that surprised by her efforts.
“She’s definitely an example,” Holloway said. “She’s not one that will boast about herself or brag on herself but behind the scenes she’s doing amazing things.”
In the movies, superheroes wear masks. But in Kingwood, Texas, Izzy Powell makes them.
“She’s just an awesome kid,” her mom said. “She’s the light of my life.”