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MURPHYSBORO (WSIL) --There are now 10,000 more masks and hundreds more bottles of hand sanitizer in southern Illinois, thanks to the combined efforts of the Tuskegee Next Foundation, who train a diverse group of young pilots, and members of the Will Group, a Chicago-area lighting and infrastructure group. 

Pilots from the Tuskegee Next Foundation flew in Thursday to drop off the boxes full of supplies and help them get transported to SIH hospitals. 

The entire donation started when Tuskeegee Next board member Rona Fourte gave a call to Linda Baker of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU. 

"She said, 'We would like to give back to southern Illinois. We like to do something in terms of providing PPE to individuals in southern Illinois.' And she called me at the Simon Institute and asked me if I  could assist her with that. And we thought there was no better group to work with than SIH," Baker said. 

Five-thousand of the N95 masks will be going to SIH, and the other five-thousand will be shared with other southern Illinois community health and social service agencies. 

The delivery was made possible with a pilot from the Tuskegee Next Foundation--a program that helps at risk youth get involved in aviation.

The hispanic pilot from Chicago, Jessica Vargas, talked about what it's like being a role model for young women interested in the program.

"I am always constantly reaching out to whenever I see another young woman, another minority student who is interested in aviation. I'm always trying to take that initiative. And so, it just makes my work more meaningful," Vargas said.

According to Women in Aviation International, in 2019, women made up less than 8 percent of all pilots.

The mask delivery mission now involves various organizations who will find out if they qualify for the masks in the new application process. But the focus will be given to health care professionals in direct contact with COVID-19 patients or people who may have contracted the disease.

The donation could not have come at a better time.

"There is a shortage of masks, they're not coming in as rapidly as we  might be able to order them. And that's why a gift like this is really, really important to a healthcare organization like ours," said Woody Thorne, SIH Vice President of Community Affairs.

The Tuskegee Next Foundation wanted to be able to give back to southern Illinois.

"We have many cadets that go to Southern Illinois University and become a part of our program. So we wanted to make sure that not only are we getting those students from Southern Illinois University, but we are giving back to Southern Illinois University by way of this donation today," Fourte said.