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Cuomo lauds gesture of retired Kansas farmer, who donates mask

The farmer gave four of them to immediate family members and said he couldn't think of a better place than New York City to send the fifth one.

ALBANY, N.Y. — During Friday's coronavirus briefing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo read an emotional letter from a farmer in Kansas who donated a mask he found to New York so a front-line worker could have it.

That farmer was Dennic Ruhnke, from near Kansas City, who talked with our NBC partners there after that letter.

He says he's concerned about his wife, Sharon, who has one lung and diabetes. But he also wanted to do his part to help where COVID-19 has hit the hardest.

"Well, everybody's gotta do their part," Ruhnke said. "And as small as mine was, still I felt pretty good about doing it. When I closed the mailbox lid, I thought this is the way it should be, probably."

Ruhnke said he actually found five masks around his farm that had not been used. He gave four of them to immediate family members and said he couldn't think of a better place than New York City to send the fifth one.

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