3D-Printing for the Community

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Right before we received the news that our school district would be closing the buildings due to Covid-19, I had just gotten my students setup for our 3D-printing unit. I’m not sure who was more excited about this unit - me or my 4th and 5th graders. Knowing that our buildings would be closed for at least 2 weeks, I brought one of my two printers home thinking I would print items that my students built in TinkerCad, so I could give them their prints once we got back to school. Then a week into the school closure we received the news from our governor that teachers and students would not be returning to school for the 2019-2020 school year. It was a shock. And here I was passing by my 3D-printer sitting in its box everyday. I was barely surviving days between distance learning, chasing my 16 month old around, and trying to figure out a new routine for our family.

Then I checked my email.

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A coworker in my county, Rob Motrynczuk, who’s my local 3D-printing guru, found a need that we could fill in our community - nurses at VCU Medical Center were complaining how much their ears were hurting from wearing masks all day long. And he has a neighbor who’s a nurse there that could make the deliveries. Finally! I ran upstairs to start setting up my 3D printer with the file that Rob sent me.

I had my reason to finally unbox my 3D-printer. And it has been running non-stop ever since!

My son’s new favorite thing is to let me know when he hears it stop running and he’s very adamant (even though he doesn’t have full language skills, yet) that he WILL be the one to press the button to send the file to the printer!

In the first delivery I had printed 100 ear savers and together a group of teachers were able to print over 300 to be delivered! And as you’re reading this, I have more printing! I’ve had friends donate filament. Others that have sent me messages asking for an ear saver for themselves and their grandchildren who work in the medical field. And I’m so thankful for all of them. We are nothing without our medical heroes. I’m so thankful that I can do just a little something to make their job a tad easier each day.

If you’re interested in donating filament for this cause, I have listed it on my Amazon Wishlist.

Are you looking for a file for ear savers that you could print? Check out what the National Institutes of Health has listed.