Unsung Heroes: Rancho Cordova shop owner ramps up to save medical workers’ ears
The hashtag explains her means and motivation: #savetheears.
Lexi Tcha doesn’t work in a hospital, but she feels compassion for those working on the front lines during these pandemic times where the coronavirus has in some instances overwhelmed the medical community.
So the Sacramento native who owns and operates her small “Totally Customized” shop in Rancho Cordova — she can make anything! — decided to do her part.
Save the ears.
To be specific, if you have worn a mask like an increasing amount of people have across the country to protect yourself and others from the virus, they can get cumbersome and irritate the ears. Tcha has made it her mission to fit as many who want them with an ear saver, a small piece that helps hold the mask in place and takes pressure off the ears. Fittingly, she said, the piece has a heart in it.
Tcha has donated thousands of ear savers to healthcare workers locally and as far as New York.
“I know we can’t all be nurses or doctors or essential workers on the front lines of this pandemic, but this is my way to give back a little, to help out,” Tcha said.
Tcha’s goal was to make 500. Once she shared that ambition on her Facebook page, she was swamped with interest.
“By my third week, last month, I was up to 10,000 ear savers,” Tcha said. “Just amazing. I had no idea. I have a laser engraver. I’ve been buying sheets of acrylic and I can cut 150 of them in 44 minutes. I’ve been busy.”
And then some.
Working out of small shop no bigger than a deep freezer, Tcha produced a batch of 2,500 ear saver that went to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Some of those ear savers landed in the Shriner’s Hospital on the same block. Box loads of the goods have landed at nursing homes in Stockton and Sacramento.
“As of right now,” Tcha said by phone on Wednesday afternoon, clicking on her laptop, “the exact count is 11,853 ear savers sent out.”
There would have been more, thousands more, had Tcha not been sidelined for two weeks from a tailbone injury. She felt guilty that she took time off. No one else would. Tcha said the cost of 85 percent of her materials has been covered through Facebook donations. She often pays for shipping. Tcha isn’t making a profit here, she says. She’s making a point to help out.
“Wow, there’s not a word to describe how good this makes me feel, the sense of gratitude, of people expressing thanks to me,” Tcha said. “Doctors and nurses send me pictures. Puts a big smile on my face.”
Anthony Osuna has joined in to help his friend. He lives to volunteer, including for the department of corrections. He delivers box loads of ear savers, sometimes paying for shipping for those going out of state.
Osuna is a regular at FC Republic soccer matches, jammed in the middle of the spirited Tower Bridge Battalion, along with local doctors and nurses.
“We sent some ear savers to those nurses and they ate them up,” Osuna said. “What Lexi is doing is amazing. She’s always been about charity, about giving back, about community. It’s never about her.”