Columbus Rotary Club members are partnering with IUPUC to provide face shields to 20 local non-profit organizations in the Bartholomew County area.
“We identified a need for area nonprofits to have these face shields, and we wanted to provide them at no cost,” said Melissa Fairbanks, chair of the club’s public relations committee, who is also the director of the IUPUC Center for Business and Economic Development. The club has named the project “Shielding Volunteers.”
Every year, the Columbus Rotary Club is invited to apply for a Rotary district matching grant. This year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotarians were asked to propose grant projects that were related to the health crisis.
In that vein, the club proposed a unique project — partnering with the IUPUC science division to create and assemble 550 face shields to donate to the nonprofits.
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The club recently received the matching grant after applying for it in May. The district matched the $775 raised by the Columbus Rotary Club for a total of $1,550. The grant allowed the club to purchase two 3-D printers and two laminators, as well as button-hole elastic and plastic material for the face shields.
Fairbanks said she and Rotary committee members Bob Morrison, Roger Brinkman and Lynn Lucas “have been involved in every aspect of bringing this project to life.”
J.D. Mendez, chair of IUPUC’s science division, worked with mechanical engineering students on putting together materials for the project.
“The students and Dr. Mendez built the two donated 3-D printers from a kit, designed and then refined the pattern for the headband to be durable and comfortable, and selected a buttonhole elastic that provides a universal fit, child to adult,” Fairbanks said. Mendez and his students also used the 3-D printers to create the face shield headbands.
Prior to this project, Mendez and other partners worked together to create face shields for Columbus Regional Health. Fairbanks said that Mendez built more than 1,000 face shields for CRH.
Right now, Rotarians are meeting once a week to assemble the face shields for the Shielding Volunteers project. After the first session, they had finished about 250 face shields. Their second session was Friday, and they expect to finish after another assembly session this week. Fairbanks said the face shields will be delivered to nonprofits by mid-August.
“One of the area elementary schools is very excited to get the face shield, because they do have a teacher who works with students who are hearing impaired,” she said. The transparency of the face shields allows for lip reading, which can be a helpful tool in communication.
Fairbanks said that the masks are reusable and can be cleaned with water and dish detergent.
“They are not to be put into the dishwasher,” she added. “That temperature is too hot and will start to deteriorate the material.”
Fairbanks said that the Shielding Volunteers project aligns with the Rotary motto — “Service above Self” — as well as one of its six main areas of focus, which is disease prevention and treatment.
She said that by the project’s end, Rotary volunteers and their partners at IUPUC will have dedicated more than 1,500 hours to the project.
“We call ourselves ‘people of action,’” she said. “And so, given the situation with COVID-19 … we did want to be able to do something. We wanted to have some type of action that would help our community but still be able to remain safe while we do it. And so, we felt like this Shielding Volunteers project was something that we could do in a safe manner.”
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Columbus Rotary Club members will distribute face shields in August to the following community organizations:
- Advocates for Children / CASA
- Arc of Bartholomew County
- Brighter Days
- Cheer Fund
- Columbus Area Arts Council
- Columbus Indiana Philharmonic
- Developmental Services Inc.
- Family School Partners
- Foundation for Youth
- Just Friends
- Kidscommons
- Lincoln Central Neighborhood Family Center
- Love Chapel
- Mill Race Center
- Salvation Army
- Southside Elementary
- Su Casa
- Turning Point
- YES Cinema
- Youth Services
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