CAIRO — A grassroots effort to produce hospital gowns for doctors and first responders in Grady County will begin winding down operations after receiving a sizable donation from a local manufacturer.

Grady County Family Connection executive director Nola Daughtry had been reaching out on social media for help sewing polyethylene hospital gowns out of plastic tablecloths, and she estimates that her group of volunteer seamsters has produced about 300 since they began last month. It was in her efforts to reach out to the public for more help that Woodhaven Furniture Industries, a furniture manufacturer with plants in Cairo and Coolidge, caught wind of Daughtry’s operation.

Woodhaven general manager Tommy Harper and operations managerTerry Griggs contacted Daughtry last month after seeing her call for volunteers in a newspaper article and offered to donate 1,000 gowns to the cause.

“They were making gowns for Archbold and said they would be glad to help us out,” Daughtry said.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) produced by Woodhaven will keep local doctors and first responders supplied until shipments of stockpiled medical-grade inventory can arrive, Daughtry said. Woodhaven has also offered to keep the Grady County Emergency Management Agency supplied with hundreds of PPE each week until demand subsides.

With the volunteers’ initial goal of keeping healthcare workers in the community supplied with PPE until large shipments could arrive being met, Daughtry said the group will now begin winding down operations.

“We’re done with our project at this point,” she said. “We think they’re taken care of.”

Altogether, the volunteers produced about 300 gowns in just a few weeks. Another 200 gown patterns already have been cut out, and Daughtry said the group will sew those together and distribute them before closing up shop for good.

At its peak, the volunteer operation had more than 30 individuals assisting with sewing gowns and cutting out patterns. Local businesses and individuals also contributed donations to the project, including United National Bank, The Cairo Messenger and Walmart. Daughtry also wished to express special thanks to First United Methodist Church for providing a safe facility to distribute supplies to volunteers to take home.

“We’ve got such great citizens in this community,” Daughtry said. “They’re great patriot warriors who come forward when the need is there. We’re very lucky in this area to have people like that.”