Santa Clarita teens craft, donate face shields for coronavirus frontline workers - LA Daily News

For most high school students, the coronavirus shutdown of schools has meant extra time at home, filling their days with electronic entertainment and social media.

For Kevin Gillespie, it was time to figure out how to help protect essential workers from the deadly disease. With an aptitude for design and creation, he began researching how to make protective face shields at his Stevenson Ranch home.

Kevin, 17, found face shield designs on the internet, studied them and designed his own, using a 3D printer that his parents bought for him.

“When quarantine began, and high school was canceled along with that came all our activities and everything that kept us busy and our minds engaged,” Kevin said. “It felt like there wasn’t much you could do, and although that feeling hasn’t gone away, it pushed us to do something.”

Kevin was not inexperienced. Last year he made a trash can that used artificial intelligence to sort recyclable cans from trash and separate the items for a Google-sponsored science fair.

• Open-Source Print and Protect members deliver protective face shields to the NoHo Home Alliance in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect members deliver protective face shields to the NoHo Home Alliance in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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• Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance looks at a new face shield after receiving a donation of shields from Open-Source Print and Protect in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, talks with Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance after delivering protective face shields to the popup drop in access center for people experiencing homelessness in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect members deliver protective face shields to the NoHo Home Alliance in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance wears a new face shield after receiving a donation of shields from Open-Source Print and Protect in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, Shaden Nasr, Matthew Chan, 17-years old, David Gee, 17-years old, 16-years old, and Rachel Gim, 17-years old, deliver protective face shields to Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, Shaden Nasr, Matthew Chan, 17-years old, David Gee, 17-years old, 16-years old, and Rachel Gim, 17-years old, deliver protective face shields to Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, hands Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance protective face shields as team members Shaden Nasr, David Gee, 17-years old, 16-years old, Matthew Chan, 17-years old and Rachel Gim, 17-years old, look on in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, hands Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of the NoHo Home Alliance protective face shields as team members Shaden Nasr, David Gee, 17-years old, 16-years old, Matthew Chan, 17-years old and Rachel Gim, 17-years old, look on in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, and team members Shaden Nasr, David Gee, 17-years old, 16-years old, Matthew Chan, 17-years old and Rachel Gim, 17-years old, deliver protective face shields to the NoHo Home Alliance in North Hollywood Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie meets with team members over Zoom at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, 3D prints face shields at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The group designs and produces protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The group designs and produces protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, prepares face shields for delivery at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The group designs and produces protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, prepares face shields for delivery at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The group designs and produces protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, prepares face shields for delivery at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The group designs and produces protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie, 17-years old, meets with team members over Zoom at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

• Open-Source Print and Protect founder Kevin Gillespie meets with team members over Zoom at his home in Stevenson Ranch, Monday, July 20, 2020. The teens design and produce protective face shields that they donate to coronavirus front line workers. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

He recruited friends from his school West Ranch High School in Santa Clarita — and Open-Source Print and Protect was born. They’ve made and delivered 3134 face shields so far for more than 40 facilities, including Kaiser Permanente hospitals, Cedars-Sinai, the LA Veterans Affairs hospital, Pitchess Detention Center, as well as private practices and senior homes.

They didn’t stop there.  If the group wanted to continue the project, funds were needed, so they figured out how to incorporate and file for nonprofit status and set up a go GoFundMe account.  They created a website and a logo, reached out to places that required PPE and enlisted friends Remy Bell, Tristan Manalang, William Bennett, and Owen Sayre that also had 3D printers to help keep up with demand.

Proud parents Ewan and Zoe Gillespie are amazed at their son’s accomplishments “He really did everything by himself, I feel really proud of him,” said mom Zoe. The young man has a big heart, “Kevin is also very caring, he wanted to do something to help out. He looked at what he had and made the best of it, if we could all do half so well,” beamed the proud father.

On a recent morning, Kevin’s 3D printer spit out frames and he attached clear plastic shields to each, getting the protective gear ready for delivery to the NoHo Home Alliance, a popup drop-in access center for people experiencing homelessness in North Hollywood.

Core team members Shaden Nasr, 16, Rachel Gim, 17, Matthew Chan, 17, and David Gee, 17, arrived to help with the delivery.

“I thought it was a good idea and a good way to help people taking advantage of the resources we have and our collective skills as a team,” said Matthew.

“It”s definitely a rewarding feeling,” added Rachel. “It’s something we should do. It feels good.”

The team walked up the alley to the NoHo Home Alliance carrying a box with 50 new protective face shields enclosed.

Pastor Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director of NoHo Home Alliance, smiled as she accepted the box of much-needed protection.

The team eagerly demonstrated how the face shields were snapped together to form an effective virus barrier. Jaeger quickly placed the newly assembled shield on her head to try it out.

“It’s impressive that young people who are really committed to using this time of pandemic to make as much of a difference as they possibly can,” she said. “To be in quarantine and to come up with this brilliant idea of designing and producing an effective face shield and bringing them here. It takes so much heart; it takes brains and commitment.”

To donate:

http://www.gofundme.com/printandprotect

http://printandprotect.org

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Santa Clarita teens craft, donate face shields for coronavirus frontline workers - LA Daily News
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