The Centers for Disease Control say wearing masks can help save lives, and a local restaurant is using them to help the community even more. According to the CDC, science shows face masks work to protect the wearer and others from COVID-19.

You will see several restaurant workers wearing them, including at The Attic Bar and Grill in Sioux Falls. The masks there became so popular, customers soon had some questions. That is how The Attic saw an opportunity to do a good deed.

We cover our faces now. That’s what the CDC tells us will help people in our community during the pandemic. That’s why you’ll see employees at The Attic wearing them, featuring the restaurant’s logo.

“Quite a few people are asking where can we get your masks?” Erica Richards, general manager, said.

Rather than selling them for a basement bargain to make a little profit, The Attic had loftier goals.

“The community is very important to us. Since day one, they have treated us so kindly. We shut down, the community was wonderful , supporting us. So, it’s very important for us to give back,” Richards said.

The Attic is selling the masks and will donate 100-percent of the money to the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society.

“This is really going to help us,” Kori Baade, executive director of the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society, said.

The humane society has more than 400 animals right now. It’s doing well, but the pandemic has hit the area hard. Baade says that means people may not be able to afford their pets, so they end up at the facility.

“Animals come in with health issues that we have to use money for, obviously. Trying to keep the staff on board to take care of them when they come in,” Baade said.

The CDC says masks help slow the spread of COVID-19, but they also spreading kindness to all of the furry little friends who need it.

“Very trying times and with the uncertainty of everything, just thought we’d be proactive in it instead of reactive,” Richards said.

“People are really stressed out right now. This thing is really getting to them. It’s getting to everybody. Even the animals are having a hard time. We just have to remember to do that, be kind to other people and The Attic is doing that,” Baade said.

Goodness in the community, unmasked.

You can purchase masks to benefit the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society at The Attic. On July 20th, the restaurant will have a pet food drive for the humane society. You can also help the humane society through its virtual event called Paws to Celebrate.