Local Woman has a Heart for Helping and she’s giving us the Ingredients!
Local Woman Makes Her Own Hand Sanitizer -And She Wants to Share the Recipe!
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
When I talked to Darcie Nuttall yesterday on the phone you could hear the excitement in her voice as she talked about her community and neighbors in North Andover. Her full time job is an important one. She’s a licensed mental health therapist, but since the news of the coronavirus hit, her job has morphed into something that she feels is just as, if not more important.
Why Darcie is Giving Back
Last year her husband needed a kidney transplant and it was Darcie who gave him hers. She knows how to give anything to the people she loves and that’s why when I tell you what she’s doing, you’ll feel like this is no different.
In 2014, Darcie and her friend Cindy Luizza started a company called Pillows and Things where they make custom embroidered pillows, and things!
And that’ important to know because Darcie and Cindy started making masks at the house for neighbors, nurses, emergency personnel, and the immune-compromised. The first day she made 10, the second she moved to 25, and total she personally has made around 50 masks that she leaves out on her doorstep in a basket that says “Free Masks” in N. Andover for anyone who needs it the most.
But she loves hot yoga and realized that the cleaning solution she was using for her yoga mats also acts as a hand sanitizer, so she started putting together bottles of the spray for people to also take.
She lit up with pride on the phone when talking about a man who visited her doorstep wondering if he could take a bottle for his daughter, who is immune compromised.
How Others Have Helped
People in her community know about her efforts and they are now helping with whatever they have.
One woman dropped off high end designer fabric so Darcie can make more masks, people are dropping off bottles of rubbing alcohol that they no longer need at the house so she can make more sanitizer. She’s made 48 bottles of that so far.
But any assistance is greatly appreciated. She needs more spray bottles, elastics that go in the masks, rubbing alcohol, and witch hazel. She told me that Facebook is the easiest way to reach her if you just search for her name, Darcie Nuttall (or you can find it below).
Darcie also told me that if you have these ingredients at home then you can make your own sanitizer spray
How to Make Hand Sanitizer at Home
1 6oz spray bottle and fill it up with
1/2 part witch hazel (Example Here)
1/2 part rubbing alcohol (Example Here)
3-5 drops of lavender (Example Here)
*The hand sanitizer recipe does not have a high enough alcohol content to be protective per CDC guidelines
