Together students and teachers at an elementary school in southwest China's Sichuan province recently donated over 35,000 surgical masks, along with drawings and calligraphy works made by students, to Italy for the country's fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Beijing Youth Daily reported Thursday.

Students and parents carry the masks purchased for Italy. (Photo/Beijing Youth Daily)

On April 15, the face masks and students' works were sent to Brescia Health Protection Agency of Brescia, northern Italy's Lombardy region, and San Bortolo Hospital in Italian city Vicenza.

Cleared by Italian customs, the materials are expected to be delivered to the destinations soon.

According to Headmaster Xiang Zhibin of the elementary school, Sichuan Normal University Experimental Foreign Language School in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, the school raised more than 140,000 yuan ($19,764) within two days for the donation.

Xiang said she read an article about the COVID-19 pandemic this past mid-March and knew Italy has been hit hard by the virus.

"I shed tears when I read the article. I thought of the time when our Wenchuan county was struck by the great earthquake, an Italian rescue team was the first expert team from Western countries to arrive at the scene,"Xiang said.

When Xiang forwarded the article to relevant departments of the school and parent representatives to get opinions about donating supplies to Italy, in return she received full support.

A student of the elementary school of Sichuan Normal University Experimental Foreign Language School uses a drawing to cheer on Italy in its fight against COVID-19. (Photo/Beijing Youth Daily)

"Parents have made great efforts to facilitate the whole process," Xiang disclosed, stressing that the care behind their actions couldn't have been successfully conveyed to the Italian people without the perseverance of these parents.

In an effort to ensure high-quality masks, parents verified and compared qualifications of more than 10 face mask factories, finally selecting a local supplier that had been taken over by the government, according to Xiang.

The Consulate General of Italy in southwest China's Chongqing municipality thanked the school for its donations via its official account on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, on April 15.