School Finds Nearly 2K Medical Masks, Gives Them to Doctors and Police in Need

Doctors and policemen in West Hills, California, are feeling grateful after a local school gave them a much-needed donation on Thursday.

When de Toledo High School’s business manager, David Marcus, and members of the security and maintenance staff began cleaning the campus while students studied at home, they made a surprising discovery.

Inside a storage shed were boxes filled with nearly 2,000 N95 masks the school bought for emergencies last year when wildfires burned through the area.

Not long after he found the boxes, Marcus alerted Head of School Mark Shpall, who said he did not think twice about donating the masks to the people on the front lines of the health crisis.

“This is a crazy time and situation and we are all in this together,” he said, adding, “The more we can all be kind and helpful, the better we’re all going to be.”

Shpall then contacted the Woodland Hills Medical Center and relayed the good news.

“I was actually going in to give platelets because I know those are also in need, and as soon as I came out, they had them already and I was able to pick them up and deliver them. It was four pretty big boxes of stuff,” he recalled.

When he arrived at the hospital with the masks, Shpall did not expect the emotional response he got from staff members.

“It was really sweet. One of the physicians who was there to help was almost in tears,” he explained.

“I didn’t realize how important this was to them and it was really humbling to see that we were able to make some small, little difference for the hospitals,” Shpall noted.

Once he delivered 1,300 masks to the hospital, he took the 700 remaining to the West Hills Los Angeles Police Department.

Now, Shpall plans to donate toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes to Beit T’Shuvah, a local Jewish addiction center in need of the items.

Shpall said his goal is to be a good person so his students and community will hopefully follow his lead.

“If we can make even a small impact on organizations that make a difference in this world — the police, the hospitals, the rehab centers — then it’s a win-win,” he concluded.