(CNN) A group of volunteers has been working to repair 27,000 desperately needed N95 protective masks for a Memphis, Tennessee, hospital battling the coronavirus pandemic -- and they got most of them done in a weekend.

Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis recently found dozens of cases of the masks in storage but couldn't use them because the elastic straps had dry-rotted and needed to be replaced.

It was a huge job that organizers Stephanie Lepone and Ginna Rauls stumbled into almost by accident. The women are longtime friends and have regular sewing get togethers, Lepone told CNN.

Lepone said she works full time as an engineer and has three kids, but she wanted to do something to help while she's quarantined at home.

They had started making cloth masks for a pediatrician's office and Lepone asked a friend, who's a director at Baptist Memorial Health Care, to see whether they needed cloth masks.

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