TSA Supervisor At BWI Airport Crochets, Sews Masks For Workers

HANOVER, MD — As businesses and services shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, some people suddenly found themselves without a paycheck. Transportation Security Administration supervisor Samantha Mudge vividly recalled what it was like last year working during the federal government shutdown for several weeks without a paycheck.

“So many people helped us during the government furlough,” said Mudge. “So I felt that I needed to do something to support others.”

A 13-year veteran of the TSA who works the early 3:15 a.m. shift at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Mudge decided to crochet masks for the Calvert County Sheriff’s Department. She made 25 masks in black with a blue line across them, symbolic of the phrase “thin blue line” that represents law enforcement. Then Mudge dropped them off at the sheriff’s office along with a box of sub sandwiches from a local shop and a couple pounds of shrimp from a local grocery store.

Still, Mudge felt she needed to do more. When her stimulus check arrived in the mail, she decided to use that money to support essential workers.

“When I received my check, I looked at it and knew I could do more,” she said.

So Mudge bought fabric to sew masks, more yarn to crochet masks and more food to donate. She sewed 50 masks and donated them to the CalvertHealth Medical Center in Calvert County, delivered 30 masks to her local Walmart pharmacy because her pharmacist and pharmacy workers didn't have any masks and she handed a bag of her masks to healthcare workers who were standing outside waiting for food at a barbecue restaurant.

“I guess you could say they were all random acts of kindness,” said Mudge.