Zhang giggled at the recount of how he got lost in the hospital, but with the help of friendly staff, he was able to make it to the receiving area of the hospital.

“It was a little embarrassing,” he said giggling, “but it’s OK because it was my first time doing this.”

Zhang said donating the masks to Southlake was the reason he was “so happy” that day.

Zhang still has 3,000 more masks to donate, which he said he will be giving to the homeless as well as the elderly community since he knows they are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The chef in the making said he doesn’t plan on staying Canada forever as he dreams of cooking in Japan; however, Canada will forever be his second home.

Others can join Zhang’s initiative by donating to his GoFundMe page that has a $20,000 goal.

The masks will go toward supporting frontline workers across the region and GTA.

“Even though some people are mean, I don’t care, I still want to help because we’re all family, we’re not different, we’re all the same,” Zhang said.

He gave an this analogy using chopsticks to describe the strength in unity, something he said we must do during these tough times:

“One chopstick is easy to break, but when you have ten or hundred put together, it doesn’t break. So I believe that if more people help, everyone can fight this virus together,” Zhang said.