Unused fabric from the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a landmark memorial to and celebration of those lost to AIDS, will be repurposed to produce face masks for medical workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, first conceived by AIDS activist Cleve Jones in 1985, is the largest community folk art project in the world. Now, the quilt is finding an additional purpose amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to PEOPLE, National AIDS Memorial employee Gert McMullin said that she is using leftover fabric from the quilt to sew face masks for Bay Area Community Services, which provides community-based mental health, housing/homeless and older adult services in California’s Alameda and Solano Counties.