Maker Nexus, a non-profit community makerspace in the San Francisco Bay Area, had to close its doors following the county’s shelter-in-place orders last spring.
Upon learning about the shortage of personal protective equipment, staff and members quickly designed a useful face shield in cooperation with local doctors. They produced shields by using the makerspace equipment, gathering donated or discounted supplies, and mobilizing a community of makers with 3D printers at home. During the first critical months of the pandemic, Maker Nexus donated ~80,000 face shields and ~6,000 cloth masks — for free — to healthcare and other essential workers in dire need of protection.
I’m proud to have been a small part of that effort, coordinating the supply chain that kept the printers and cutters running around the clock to make as many shields as possible, as quickly as we could.