By Jason Gabak

According to Mike Pounds, a member of the technology education department in the East Syracuse Minoa school district, during these trying times, he has been amazed to see the way so many have stepped up to do their part to help.
When Pounds and other members of the technology department heard about the efforts coming from Budmen Industries in Liverpool to make parts for face shields for medical workers, they wanted to do their part to lend a helping hand.
Isaac Budmen and Stephanie Keefe, who operate under the business name of Budmen Industries, have been working to produce face shields for workers at the Onondaga County coronavirus test site.
Other area schools have also joined in this effort, utilizing the tools of their technology programs to lend their support to those working on the frontlines.
“This is a whole community,” Pounds said. “This isn’t one individual person or place, this is a whole community effort and it is great to see so many people working together on something like this.”
The East Syracuse Minoa technology education department volunteered their time to repurpose ESM 3D printers to make plastic visor frames and clips used for face shields.
When combined with clear polyethylene sheeting to cover the face, the shields will provide Central New York medical workers with PPE (personal protective equipment) to help them more safely fight the COVID-19 virus in patients.
“We saw what Budmen Industries was doing,” Pounds said. “Our administration was supportive and agreed to the idea and we were happy to do what we can to help.”
ESM staff delivered the 75 sets of frames and clips to Budmen Industries, which had a collection site on Route 298, within the ESM boundaries.
It took about two hours to print each face shield frame.
The filament used was personally donated by teachers Dave Ashley and Pounds.
Their materials will be replaced through Budmen.
Pounds said schools and others with 3-D printers are a little more limited in how rapidly they can produce these pieces, where as a company like Tessy Plastics, which recently announced it will be working on making parts as well, can create a greater volume much faster with their injection molding technology.
But every little bit helps right now and Pounds said he and the members of the technology department were happy to lend their support where they could.
At this time ESM is not planning to make more shields, but Pounds said he encourages anyone who can to continue to lend their support.
Pounds does hope to make some ear pieces that go behind the ears of people wearing masks to help limit irritation that comes from having masks on all day.
“We are thankful that ESM was a part of this mission and equally proud to be members of such a caring and dedicated community,” Pounds said.