Stay In! And See What You Can Accomplish with Ingenuity….and a 3D Printer

Today’s "Stay In column" is a shout-out (from a socially safe distance, of course) to a neighborhood resident, a high school senior, Jonah Docter-Loeb, who’s been creating face shields and other PPE’s on his 3D printer -- but more than that, he's reached out to the many other 3D printer owners in the area to organize them to join in his efforts, and they now have created and donated over 3,000 face shields to health care workers. 

His project is PrinttoProtect.org, and you can read all about it in this interview that Jonah gave to Washington Magazine: https://bit.ly/2KQfPr2 

What makes me especially glad about his work is that he's made the Cleveland Park Listserv a key part of the effort, posting messages to recruit other owners of 3D printers to join the project, as well as volunteers to assemble the shields, and drivers to deliver them. We're so proud to have done our bit.

Face Shield - Photo by Pooja Jadhav
(Creative Commons)

All pretty impressive for a high school kid - and it's earned him and his fellow student organizers a salute from the editorial board of the Washington Post: https://wapo.st/3aUhCWo  : https://wapo.st/3aUhCWo 

But wait! There's another honor coming, and this one is perhaps more surprising for being bestowed out of season. Let me explain. Normally, I wait until the end of December, when all post for the year are in, before handing out our annual Cleveland Park Listserv awards (The “Listies”) to the list members who have posted the best messages in a variety of categories: Most Unusual Query; Best Animal Story; Best Giveaway or For-Sale Item; and others). One of those categories is Most Helpful Post, but it's clear there's no need to wait until December for this one. I can't imagine anyone's going to be able to top Jonah in putting the listserv to good use, to get people to create, assemble, and deliver face-shields against the spread of a terrible contagion.  

And so....the Listie for Most Helpful Post of the Year 2020 goes to....Jonah Loeb-Docter! 

And now for the "Stay In" advice part of this column -- this is for anyone who's looking for something worthwhile to do while stuck at home: You can join Project Print to Protect, and you don't need to own a 3D printer. There are plenty of other ways to help, including the good, old-fashioned donate bucks! Find out the details in Jonah's April 20 message:  Message #156965 Volunteer group 3D printing medical gear to first responders needs help: PrintToProtect.Org

[There were also three earlier messages, with more information about the work and the help needed. Here are the links to those messages: :

Message #155897 Help Make Face Shields for First Responders (Access to 3D Printers Needed!) Mar 24

Message #156205 Hospitals in Need of 3-D Printed Parts? Mar 31

Message #156310 Amazon Donation Registry for Face Shields (We need Elastic & Transparent Sheets for 3D Printed Face Shields for First Responders) Apr 3 

When the time comes around for the rest of the Listies in December, we sincerely hope this will all just be a fading memory of a time of crisis, and all the other Listies will be given out for the more typical Listserv stuff....like "Most Creative Argument for Why You Should Be Allowed to Toss Your Dog's Poop in Someone Else's Supercan"!

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The Stay In! column is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.