A Lansford woman combined her love of crafts with her passion for animals when she decided to donate to the Carbon County Animal Shelter.

Mary Ann Krajnak loves her two dogs Callie and Braxton.

Callie came from the shelter in 2006, and years later in 2015, she got her second dog Braxton from the shelter as well.

Krajnak also loves sewing, and has been knitting away since she learned the skill in home economics class in high school many years ago.

With the need for masks amid the current pandemic, Krajnak decided to start sewing her own. She had fabric and other materials already at home, but had trouble finding the elastic she needed at stores. So she looked around the house and found some old headbands and hair ties. With directions on patterns she was able to watch on YouTube and having everything she needed to get the job done, she got to work. After completing her first round of masks, she proudly showed them off and posted pictures of her masks on Facebook.

Right away, she began receiving requests from friends and family who wanted one of the masks.

“People would ask me how much I was charging, so I said $5 a mask,” she said. She decided to donate proceeds to the shelter.

Once she began telling people she was taking donations for masks, “people wanted to pay even more for them,” she said.

Friends and family, mostly from Lansford and neighboring areas, were her best customers, even though Krajnak did end up shipping some masks out to customers in farther away parts of the state who also wanted to make a donation to the shelter.

“The Carbon County Animal Shelter means a lot to me. It’s where I purchased both my dogs, who are like family. Lots of people have been donating to hospitals and other causes lately that have had to do with medical supplies, but the animal shelter is always in need, too. They count on donations from the public,” she said.

Mary Ann was prepared with a $300 check to donate to the shelter just before she received a last-minute donation for $10.

“I went to the store and bought a bag of dog treats with the money since the check was already written out,” she said.