Woman turns to Facebook to get mask for sister who is nurse, gets dozens donated

LANHAM, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Lisa Alexander made a desperate plea this week on Facebook. The intensive care unit where her sister worked as a nurse treating COVID-19 patients had run out of masks.

"I NEED my sister. My entire family needs her to be protected! Please let me know if you can help," she wrote.

Alexander's sister was not able to get another mask when hers got wet during a shift at Doctor's Community Hospital in Lanham.

Dozens of shares later, that message reached Jeff Shi, of Chantilly, Virginia. He had already begun scouring the internet for masks and asking for donations to buy them and donate to health care workers in the area.

Shi secured 200 masks similar to the N95 and a neighbor helped deliver them to Alexander and her sister.

"I thought to myself, I was like 'wow, they are in a bad situation just like everybody else, but at the same time who's going to help them?' If I don't then who will?" Shi said.

"Two hundred masks could save the lives of thousands of people because everybody is in contact with somebody else. The nurses, the patients, the few people that get to visit and so we protected a lot of people and so one act of kindness made such a huge difference," Alexander said.

Alexander says it showed her that even through crisis, humanity prevails.

"For me, it showed the beauty of humans and the humanity that all of us still have despite all the craziness around us. Jeff was a perfect stranger and to me now he's a friend," she said.

Shi is still raising money, securing masks and donating them via a community Facebook page.