Wow.. we reached the Go Fund Me goal of 1500$. Its so amazing that we will be able to keep going here. The first 60 sheets have been finished, which means we are sending the completed 30 shields to High Peaks Hospice and start sending to care homes for the elderly. Dave Bates kicked butt and got these 60 sheets done faster than expected. I have purchased another 13 KG of filament for 362$ and the next 350 shields have shipped. I have expanding the Go Fund Me to 3,000$ to cover shields going further than we currently are able to.
Go Fund Me Support
While it wasn't my personal plan, my workplace Finch Paper LLC got wind of the fundraiser and advertised it. My perception had been that they have been working hard to deal with challenges like most, and the fundraiser would have been more of a distraction. Obviously I miss-judged the situation. With the independent support of Finch employees we have had another surge of donations which has put us at the goal-mark. You know who you are, and thank you so much!
I want to stress that every donation is appreciated regardless of how much, or who it comes from. Also, any donations past this point can still be used to help.
If raw materials were the same cost as before Covid-19 this would be easy, but everyone is competing for the limited supply. We have enough of all materials at this point to make 400 shields and then some, but I'm positive we wont get to 800 with the funds we have right now. At this moment we have raised 2070$ between the Go Fund Me and outside donations. About 650$ remains unspent.
First 60 Shields
We have finished the first 60 shields and provided them tonight to High Peaks Hospice and Warren Center. We just got the plastic sheets back from Dave Bates in Cambridge who turned these around very quickly for us. It took me a good portion of the day getting these together, but now they are out the door and where they belong. The interaction I had dropping these off at Warren Center was... concerning, even if somebody forgot to inform the supervisor I was coming. I have been told that the medical staff getting the shields will appreciate the protection though, so I'm just going to do my best to shake it off.
Resource Management and Next 350 Shields
All the things we need to complete 350 additional shields have either been ordered, or are already here. The 350 sheets of plastic will be delivered late next week, and we will likely be able to get more than half of these out in the following week given that there are no issues.
I did order more filament because there is a delay in time when amazon is delivering the specific color I ordered a week ago. The extra 12Kg will get us up past 350 additional shields. We are able to chew through 3Kg every two days assuming that printers are able to run constantly.
We are prioritizing and gathering the needs of care homes, ems and local police dept. who might need them. The list is evolving, and might change based on who obtains what they need from other sources at time goes on. If we are able to meet coverage for medical workers we will move on to other public service groups who interact with people and have to interact with people.