by Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist
Today they boxed up 400 face shields to ship to the front lines in the fight against COVID-19. Yesterday, they dropped off over 70 shields to the Bexar County Fire Department who will then distribute them. Usually, the 3-D printers and laser cutter at the Printed Meeple, are busy making fun, sometimes useful gadgets, these days they are employed full time in the fight against the pandemic.
The Printed Meeple, which is owned and operated by three families in San Antonio East Stake’s Pleasanton Ward, is usually full of people and full of fun. “Our business is a family focused game store and 3d print makerspace. We focus on having a safe place for families to come and have wholesome fun.” said Toby Stewart, one of the owners. He continued, “Our store has 70% of the space dedicated to people coming in and playing board games.”
Their business was impacted significantly after the executive order came out to prohibit public gatherings to 10 or less. Although they have temporarily closed their doors to the public, they are staying busy trying to provide much needed supplies for the medical community.
Stewart said,“…we are using our 3D printers and laser cutter to manufacture face shields and respirators. We currently are making 150 – 200 a day.” The folks at the Printed Meeple have mailed face shields to frontline responders in several different states, Montana, Minnesota and Idaho. “We have also donated face shields to several local medical groups, as well as the Bexar County Fire Marshal’s Office. We will continue to give all the time, money, and resources we can to provide help to those in need.” said Stewart.
The Printed Meeple isn’t working with a government agency. They have friends and family that are connected in the medical field. They said once they started donating the word got out quickly. Stewart said, “If you know anyone in need they can send a request to stopcovid@theprintedmeeple.com. If anyone is looking for a way to help they can donate to our go fund me page, https://www.gofundme.com/f/slow-the-spread-of-covid-19.”
Stewart also said they are looking for donations of supplies, such as elastic, lexan plastic sheets, and 3d printer filament. “Right now we have materials to make about 1,500 more face shields and about 4,000 more respirators.”
Stewart also mentioned that they are “…working with a local orthodontist who reached out to us to help with respirators.” There is a large group of orthodontists who are closed because of COVID-19 and have started using their businesses to produce masks. “We supply them with the 3D printed parts and they customize them to fit snug with a proper n95 filter.”
They are grateful that they can be a small part of the solution. Like most of us, they are ready to get back to business as normal — which for them, is having fun!