Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy’s Upper School Chinese Teacher, Shanli Zhao, and her family have spent the past few months finding ways to supply masks to hospitals in China and the United States.

 

It started in mid-January, when Zhao received a message from a friend who was working in Wuhan Children’s Hospital. The friend said they were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, was working close to fifteen hours a day without any protective equipment and was pleading for supplies from the United States. Zhao soon heard from more friends who were working in hospitals in Wuhan with the same plea.

 

As Zhao says, “I couldn’t wallow around and simply offer messages of reassurance. I had to act right away. As it says in 1 Corinthians 13, ‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.’” She then began her search for medical masks.

 

Zhao’s son, Jiahao Guo, also started a campaign at his high school to collect funds to support her cause. Zhao contacted one of her church friends, who had volunteered in various non-profit Christian medical organizations before retiring, to provide resources. With the help of Zhao’s church, they were able to have Caring Partners donate 10,000 surgical masks and 1,700 N95 masks.

 

Meanwhile, Zhao’s family contacted a few delivery companies to secure quick and rapid delivery of the masks to Wuhan. As the virus was still in its early stages of spreading in the United States, this proved to be the most difficult and laborious step of the entire process. Delivery services, airlines, and custom services were under a lot of pressure and uncertainty with their operations. After numerous calls and messages, they found a way to guarantee, with great certainty, that the masks would be delivered quickly to Wuhan. Much of this was done by Zhao during her free time in the evening, after teaching all day and taking care of her family. “Thanks to God for providing help to me,” shares Zhao. “I know without the help of my church and my family, I could not have done this successfully.”

 

Now with COVID-19 in the United States, and many hospitals finding themselves in the same situation, desperate for medical supplies, Zhao’s family is again working as a team to help. They are currently raising funds in both China and the United States to purchase more masks. Within a week, they were able to provide 200 procedure masks, and ten packages of N95 and surgical masks to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

 

To date, Zhao, Guo, and CHCA Gr 7 student Owen Liu have received over $10,000 and donated around 22,000 procedure masks and fifty N95 masks to different organizations by also partnering with Mason High School and Walnut Hills High School.

 

The hard work of Zhao and her family caught the attention of the media, including “Live with Kelly and Ryan”. You can see their interview with Zhao’s son, Jiahao, here.

 

As Zhao shares, “Luke 10:27 says to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’”