Toilet paper for eggs? Need a thermometer? Highland finds a way to share essentials.
Highland residents have taken to a popular community social media page to share essential goods during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their efforts inspired a community-wide search for thermometers to give to a local nursing home and one resourceful transaction of toilet paper for eggs.
Assisted living center Faith Countryside Homes posted a request on Facebook for thermometers, a post that was shared in the Highland Illinois Community page.
“Just like (personal protective equipment), thermometers are difficult to get. They are not lasting long since we are using them every day on every resident and every staff member,” the center posted.
Anyone who has an extra thermometer can donate it to the center and staff will sanitize them before use.
Christi Dea, of Highland, said residents are going out of their way to help others who need a thermometer. They have been hard to come by in the community.
“They checked CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Dollar General,” Dea said. “They checked literally every store in town and could not find any thermometers.”
Luckily for one woman who was worried she had a fever, another Highland resident dropped off an unopened thermometer at her doorstep, Dea said.
The sharing doesn’t stop at thermometers. After a discussion on the Facebook page, two other residents decided to swap toilet paper for a dozen eggs.
“People are trading toilet paper for eggs,” Dea said with a laugh. “It’s really interesting.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 12:37 PM.
