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Ever since COVID-19 hit the United States this past spring, the country has struggled to keep pace with the need for PPE. Whether it’s going to frontline medical staff or other essential workers, fulfilling the requirements for equipment like masks and gloves has felt like an endless challenge.
But when ingenuity and technology combine with a will to help, you find a heartwarming story like this one: Jason Erdreich, a middle school shop teacher in Madison, New Jersey, was just recognized for helping attack the PPE crisis while teaching his students at the same time.
This past spring, Erdreich grabbed 15 3D printers from his school and linked them together in his living room, creating a makeshift factory of sorts. He used the printers to pump out protective equipment day and night for frontline workers and nursing homes.
But even while he was addressing the PPE problem, he continued to teach, using the home-based PPE factory as a topic of his virtual lessons.
This teacher even caught the attention of an unlikely party when his wife nominated him for an award developed by automaker Mazda. This year, Mazda honored “50 heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic” as part of its 100th-anniversary celebration and Erdreich was one of them.
His reward? A brand new Mazda MX-5 Miata 100th Anniversary Special Edition.
The company said the 50 winners were selected “based on their demonstrated selfless acts, creative thinking, and contributions to community.” In her nomination video, Erdreich’s wife said her husband solves problems in and out of the classroom and when COVID-19 hit, he set out to gather “an army” of other shop teachers to join him, virtually, in his effort to print a reported 12,000 masks.
