NC school librarian desperately needed COVID supplies. Leslie Jones responded.
Brittany Gendron feared the worst.
How, she thought, could she ever raise thousands of dollars worth of supplies to protect against COVID-19 in her Union County school library? With the school open house two days away?
Gendron was stunned and said she cried when her favorite stand-up comedian, Leslie Jones, answered her plea on Monday.
“@Lesdoggg!” Gendron posted on Jones’ Twitter handle on Monday. “I’m a middle school librarian in #NC in a masks optional district. My goal is to provide free PPE for interested students and colleagues to help us start as safe as possible. Your help appreciated.”
She added the emoji of hands together skyward and included a link to her list of needs on Amazon.com.
A half-hour later, the former “Saturday Night Live” star and current host of ABC’s “Supermarket Sweep” game show replied.
“Got you,” Jones responded on Gendron’s Twitter handle, MsG_PagebyPage. “I cleared the list. Hope it helps!”
Strangers who saw the posts also sent supplies.
“People have been so kind,” Gendron told The Charlotte Observer in an email. “One person even asked if I could add gift cards so she could help for the rest of the year! It’s humbling to know how many people care and want to help.”
And to think how unsettled she’d felt before she tweeted Jones.
Forever fan
Gendron has always been “a FOREVER fan” of the comedian, she told the Observer.
“I mean, who didn’t weep when she left SNL (in 2019)!” Gendron wrote. “I already had Google calendar alerts for her Supermarket Sweep debut, and lived for her Olympics Instagram coverage.”
Over 900 students and their families were about to descend on Health Sciences Academy at Monroe Middle School, the formal name of the middle school on Wednesday.
The county school board left masks optional despite a nationwide rise in COVID cases due to the delta variant.
The decision sparked heated protests. Parents and others on both sides of the issue held placards during Union County Board of Education meetings and outside in the parking lot.
Out-of-pocket money
For Gendron, masks are no debate. They help stop the spread of the coronavirus, along with hand sanitizer, disinfectant, air purifiers, social distancing and other equipment and measures, she said.
And she wanted her library to be prepared, she said. Gendron spent at least $300 of her own money on masks — for anyone entering the library who wanted one — and cleaning supplies. Her school administration OK’d her leaving the masks in baskets, she said.
But air purifiers alone cost hundreds of dollars, and she needed several for the 4,500-square-foot library.
Shipments of supplies, including at least 1,500 masks from Jones, began arriving Tuesday. Gendron created a large “Free Masks” poster that also thanked Jones.
Social media trend
Jones, who couldn’t be reached by the Observer, has joined other celebrities helping teachers and other school staff #ClearTheList. The social media trend urges the public to help with items that school districts can’t afford.
Country music star Luke Combs shocked a Raleigh elementary school teacher the same way recently, The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported.
For Gendron, Jones’ donation “is just beyond generous,” she told the comedian in a reply tweet with four heart emojis.
“I‘m crying happy tears for the first time today,” she told the celebrity. “Thank you, times a million, to infinity.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 4:11 PM with the headline "NC school librarian desperately needed COVID supplies. Leslie Jones responded.."