WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – “Seek and ye shall find, apparently,” the Washington National Cathedral tweeted Wednesday morning after discovering thousands of masks that had been forgotten for years.
A stonemason found the hidden stash of 5,000 N95 masks in the Cathedral crypt, according to the tweet. They had been there for over 10 years, according to the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral.
Cathedral officials said they contacted the manufacturer and, after finding out the masks were still good, decided to donate them – 3,000 to Georgetown University Hospital and 2,000 to Children’s National Hospital.
“In these difficult and trying times, the Cathedral community is doing everything we can to help protect the most vulnerable among us from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” Rev. Hollerith said in a statement.
The masks were apparently purchased in 2006 to prepare the clergy for a possible outbreak of avian flu.