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Today we hit an awesome milestone – we delivered our 2000th mask!

The current tally looks like this:
– Hand-sewn Masks – 2000
– Repaired Masks – 1300
– Shields – 254
– Gowns – 62 (we’re still working out a good design…)
– Hand Sanitizer – 325 bottles
– Earsavers – 180
– Portable Hand Wash Stations – 3

All told? Over 4000 units of various PPE to the city’s Emergency Operations Center!

OK, we’re numbers geeks, but here’s the cool thing. From the Lynn City Hall website, the Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 page, they say this:

“The City of Lynn is working closely with North Shore Medical Center and Lynn Community Health Center to distribute care kits to high-risk Lynn residents. The kits include basic educational materials, masks, sanitizing supplies and other personal care items. Over 10,000 care kits have been distributed over the last two weeks to the following locations: Salvation Army, My Brother’s Table, Greater Lynn Senior Services, Lynn Economic Opportunity, Lynn School Department Grab & Go Lunch Program (English, Classical, Tech & Marshall), Bridgewell, Centerboard, New American Center, and Lynn Housing Authority.”

Out of the 10,000 kits they’ve delivered, we’ve supplied 4000 units of PPE for them to include. Them ain’t bad numbers!

A huge thanks goes out to all the people sewing these masks, the folks printing and assembling shields, wielding hot glue guns to fix masks, mixing and packing sanitizer and the Food Project for throwing the Portable Hand Wash Station challenge at us!

Want to help support even more work? Drop a check in the mail, or use this link: Donate here!

Stay healthy and take care of each other.

Ted Dillard

…well, in this case, the list of stuff you need to make a bucket-portable-handwashing station!

So The Food Project sent us a request for a portable hand-washing station.  Seems they need them for their farms and markets, and you can’t get them at the moment from rental sources or elsewhere.  Can we help?  Of course we can!

Here’s what you need to put one of these simple stations together:

The pump is a simple 10mm diameter bulb-type siphoning pump.  We added some tubing we had around for the intake, so it would stay at the bottom of the water jug – that white tube.  Next to that is the 3D printed bracket, the thumbscrew and the spigot.  Finally a piece of plywood to hold the bulb.

The bulb pump and hose is available on eBay.

We’ve updated the design of this, but this is the older version of the bracket.  It clamps on the side of the bucket and holds the spigot.  It has a 10mm hole running vertically.  Here’s the updated bracket:

This is the spigot – bendable copper 3/8″ OD tubing, cut to 17″ long, available from any hardware store or Home Depot or the like, but we just ordered it from McMaster Carr.  It needs a little shoulder to keep it in place, so we soldered some copper wire, shown here:

The thumbscrew is a 1/4-20 thread standard issue, also from McMaster Carr, if memory serves.  We had them kicking around the parts bin.

Finally, a slab of scrap wood with some holes for strapping down the bulb foot pump.

Let’s start the assembly.

First, strap the bulb on to your plywood and slide the extension tube on your intake.  You’ll see an arrow on the bulb showing the direction of flow:

Next, assemble the thumbscrew for the bracket:

The gooseneck slides into the 10mm hole in the bracket:

…and the hose attaches to the gooseneck with a hose clamp:

It seems like propping it up on a milk crate puts it at about the perfect height, but of course whatever works for you:

Here is the STL file on Thingiverse: Bracket for Portable Hand Washing Station.

Stay clean and wash those mitts!

What does this mean?  The quote comes from a young woman featured in the “Humans of New York” project:

“. .There are three things you can do when life sends a wave at you. You can run from it, but then it’s going to catch up and knock you down. You can also fall back on your ego and try to stand your ground, but then it’s still going to clobber you. Or you can use it as an opportunity to go deep, and transform yourself to match the circumstances. And that’s how you get through the wave.”

As of today, we’ve made and delivered over 1500 cloth masks.  We’ve repaired about 1200 paper masks that needed new elastic.  We’ve made 50 gowns, 300 bottles of hand sanitizer and have started making face shields with our 3D printers – over 75 at last count, and about 300 “ear savers” – those little clips that hold the elastic off your ears when you’re wearing a mask.  All of this has gone to the City’s Emergency Center to be distributed to all of the critical agencies, services and providers that keep this city alive, running and healthy.  We’re developing and building portable foot activated hand washing stations for The Food Project’s farmers and workers – those should roll out next week.

Lynn Fire Lt. Ryan Brown, the Director of Operations for the Center, told us they’d been able to “keep their head above water” in meeting the needs but only because of the quantity of materials The Brickyard Collaborative has delivered over the past few weeks.

This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re in it for the long haul.  The wave came.  We went deep.

We do need your help.  We were lucky to have had a little money in the bank to jump right in and start working and buying supplies.  We’re running out.

If you can make any contribution at all, please click the PayPal link below to donate with your PayPal account or any major credit/debit card.  If you’d prefer to send a check, make it out to The Brickyard Collaborative, and send it to 589 Essex Street, #207, Lynn MA. 01901.  Your donation will go directly to supplies – elastic, acrylic sheets, 3D printer filament, bottles, alcohol, and various other miscellaneous supplies so we can keep working and supplying the still-critical need here in Lynn.  (We’re a non-profit 501c3, so your contribution is deductible. No fees are collected by PayPal or any other service, unlike other online funding services.)

Donate here: Donate with PayPal

If your organization needs PPE equipment, please use our form to request it, here: COVID-19 PPE Request Form Your request will go to Lt. Brown at Lynn’s Emergency Center and you’ll hear back promptly.

Ted Dillard
The Brickyard Collaborative

Stay safe, stay healthy and keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.

Guess what we got!  Our friends at the Emergency Center here in Lynn came to us with 1300 masks that came out of old stock.  They’re medical-type masks, but they have one problem – the elastic is old and breaks easily.  They asked us if we could fix them, and of course we jumped on it!

Are you a crafter or hot-glue-gun-jockey?  We need your help!

This repair is simple – pull off the old elastic, cut two strips about 7 1/2 inches long, and hot-glue them to the masks. We tried rubber bands, too, since elastic is hard to come by, and it worked, but needed a little more hot glue to make the bond secure, and honestly wasn’t too comfortable.  Take a look at this video:

Email us if you’re interested in helping!  We’ll figure out the best way to get you started and we have a contact-free drop-box in our building for delivering your masks.

Please note – if you’re in quarantine, we love you but we can’t risk contamination of the masks.  Please agree to wear a mask and gloves while working on the repair.  If possible, keep as much of the mask in the original packaging as possible.

 

“Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.”