ASouth Florida meditation teacher has created a pandemic of her own by linking people who lost jobs because of coronavirus with donors willing to help.

Her website, PandemicOfLove.com, and its Spanish-language counterpart, PandemiaDeAmor.com, has matched more than 12,000 donors and recipients around the world, just since March 14, when Shelly Tygielski first put out the idea on Instagram.

“I posted the link and went to bed, and the next morning there were 400 requests for help,” said Tygielski, who lives in Lighthouse Point and teaches meditation classes on the beach in Hollywood. “It’s getting bigger and bigger, and we’re learning as we go.”

Communities around the country began asking Tygielski how to create similar matching systems, and the concept quickly spread around the world. She said she has trained volunteers in 50 communities in the United States, Europe and Latin America.

Tygielski, 42, has gotten to know many hospitality workers through her meditation classes, a Sunday morning tradition for hundreds on Hollywood Beach since 2015. As coronavirus spread, she began to hear of a growing number of her students who had lost their jobs.

On PandemicOfLove.com, Tygielski set up Google forms that allow visitors to “Give Help” or “Get Help.” Donors are asked what they are willing to pay for, such as a utility bill or a tank of gas, while potential recipients are asked about the effect of the pandemic on their income, what they need assistance with and details of their extenuating circumstances.

Tygielski said she and 300 volunteers vet potential recipients through their social media presence and phone interviews.

“We do a little digging,” she said. “We make sure the story they’re telling matches what we are seeing.”

Amy Mills, 41, of Hollywood, is among the people who have sought help. Mills is out of work as a massage therapist and is at home with her 13-year-old daughter, Kayla, who has a rare genetic condition.

She sought help with $400 of her $936 monthly rent, and found a donor on Pandemic of Love.

“I’m hoping I will not need to do this again,” Mills said. “But if I can’t leave the house for two months, I may have to turn to Shelly again."

Stephen and Debbie Block of Boca Raton heard about Pandemic of Love through a Facebook post. After they signed up to become donors, they quickly got an email matching them up with an out-of-work San Diego hotel manager who needed money for groceries.

Debbie Block said she asked for the recipient’s closest grocery store and emailed her a store gift card.

“We believe she was on the up and up,” said Block, fundraising chair at Sweet Dream Makers, a Boca Raton-based non-profit. “Just through our email conversation, I had a feeling this was a tough ask for her.”

Tygielski said she hopes Pandemic of Love allows recipients to feel like they are maintaining their dignity and donors to feel like they are doing a good deed amid the uncertainty of coronavirus.

“Pandemic can be a bad word, but a lot of good things go viral, too,” she said.