People are coming together and stepping up to help in some truly amazing ways to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic.  From purchasing food from a closed restaurant to feed a family in need to distillers replacing liquor production with hand sanitizer production to  simply staying inside - it is amazing to see people working together to help the world through this crisis. 

 

Some Maryland Makers are also pitching in - by making surgical masks and face shields for health care workers.  

 

When Baltimore Center Stage had to close its doors to audiences - their production staff, led by Costume Director David Burdick, decided to use their down productively by creating cloth hospital masks for their neighbor - Mercy Hospital Center.

 

 

 

 

The staff consulted with Mercy Hospital and CDC guidelines and began delivering the masks this week.

 

David told Fox 45 News - 

"This is a great thing that we have this focus and this is a thing we can focus on right now and hope to help people out"

 

 

 

Another group pitching in is Baltimore's Open Works - who is taking part in the  Makers Unite! - with their Face Shield Project

 

 

 

Through this project Open Works has started a volunteer based collaborative project to create  face shields medical workers are in dire need of using 3D printers.  These shields, which are being made using a design developed by Prusa Labs in the Czech Republic, when used with lower-grade surgical masks (like the ones mentioned above) can provide the CDC-recommended level of protection for health care workers and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

 

 

This project is truly a local collaboration- with anyone able to sign up to help (as long as they meet the criteria) 

 

 

 

The group We The Builders is organizing the printing of the parts needed while Open Works is collecting parts, sanitizing, assembling, and packaging them.  The group Innovation Works is dealing with taking orders from  health care providers and making sure the orders are fulfilled.  

 

 

 

For those who don't have a printer and want to help - financial donations are being accepted HERE