The Statue of Liberty is engraved with the words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

It goes on to reference the “wretched refuse” along with “send these to me.”

We have decided that after a year of longing to breathe free without wretched refuse of face masks that it would be good to create a remembrance of these days, which have been so short on huddled masses, by securing samples of the personalized business face masks.

The Eagle has newsprint-styled ones and we have noticed many with imprints, varying from the logos of sports teams to college and university logos. We have listened as people spoke through layers of cloth and filter, touting the name of their favorite car brand, school district, real estate office and community.

Now, we are asking you to submit one of your special logos to us, so we can create remembrances of them.

We will start by creating an archive of them, and then maybe a series of quilts. We are hoping you will want your company, church, school or sport to be included and will send us one of your masks (we prefer unused).

We will welcome home-made ones as well.

Someday, children may marvel at the way we struggled to fight against this virus and be amazed that we tried using cloth face masks as a deterrent.

You can become part of this historical collection by sending one of your masks to:

Please Wear Your Mask

Butler Eagle

514 West Wayne Street

Butler, PA 16001

Hopefully, we won’t be wearing them much longer and you won’t need your stash. You can also drop them off at our Wayne Street location. And please wear your mask.

— RV