Atlanta Beats Covid: Makers delivered over 70K PPE!

UPDATE: November 1, 2020

 

To our sponsors, volunteers, partners, and overall community,

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. With your help, we delivered over 70,000 PPE to our community!

Effective November 1, 2020, we are closing our doors. Fewer PPE requests indicate that PPE is now readily available.

In March 2020, The Maker Station, Decatur Makers, Roswell Firelabs, and Geekspace Gwinnett stepped up to make PPE locally during a nationwide shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. Independent maker volunteers and non-makers joined our cause. Overnight, our small group of hobby makers learned PPE manufacturing, production, and supply chain. In June, ABC expanded our focus to provide face shields for teachers to support school reopenings.

ABC by the Numbers (March – October 2020)

• 70,000+ PPE Delivered
• 235 Organizations Helped
• 250+ Volunteers
• 25+ Sponsors

Feedback from our Community

“Our teachers and staff members really appreciated the face masks and face shields provided by ABC.” – Christine Rea, Woodstock Elementary School

“Our teachers truly appreciated the masks, sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer provided by ABC. Teachers use the sanitizing wipes between classes, keeping the kids as safe as possible.” – Cari MacDonell, New Prospect Elementary School

“Thank you so much for the donation of 2000 disposable face masks and 250 face shield to our Centennial family!  We are thrilled to partner with Atlanta Beats Covid and appreciate your help in keeping our students, faculty and visitors safe while in school.” – Meggin Rosner, Centennial High School

“Thank you for all that you do!” – Melita Lawson, Arbor Terrace Crabapple

“We are so grateful for the face shields, thank you so much!” – Alli Neal, Executive Director, Revved Up Kids, Inc.

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude!  Thank you so much.” – Principal Shakelford, Blackwell Elementary School

“Thank you for the 250 high quality face shields to help keep our testers safe.” – Aaron Chowdry, CORE Response

Organizations Assisted

Atlanta area hospitals receiving PPE included Grady, Emory, Northside, Kennestone, Gwinnett, Piedmont, Kaiser Permanente, VA hospital, Piedmont Rockdale and Emory St. Joseph’s. Schools receiving PPE included Rockdale County, Sprayberry High, Alpharetta High, Centennial High, Autrey Middle School, Chamblee Middle School, Alliance Academy, Hope Hill Elementary, Esther Jackson Elementary, Mountain Road Elementary, New Prospect Elementary, River Eves Elementary, Teasley Middle School, Woodstock Elementary, Blackwell Elementary, Northwood Elementary, Oglethorpe Presbyterian Preschool, Holy Trinity Parish Preschool, First Baptist Woodstock WeeSchool, Grant Park Preschool, Winters Chapel UMC Preschool, St. David’s Preschool, and The Cottage School. Non-profits receiving PPE included Champions Community Foundation, Friends of Disabled Adults and Children, Mercy Care, Aid Atlanta, Good Samaritan Health Center, and Revved Up Kids, Inc.

Thank You Volunteers!

If you signed up to volunteer with ABC, first and foremost, THANK YOU! We couldn’t have done it without you. You helped with assembly, making PPE, delivering PPE, getting our message out on social media, and so much more! Thank you!

Over 250 volunteers helped make this happen. Please consider volunteering or joining one of our partner maker spaces The Maker Station, Decatur Makers, Roswell Firelabs, or Geekspace Gwinnett.

Thank You Sponsors!

Over 25 generous sponsors assisted ABC with both financial donations and in-kind donations.

In May, ABC partnered with Jim Ellis Automotive. Jim Ellis Auto produced a commercial featuring ABC and donated $35,000 to ABC. Jim Ellis Automotive Press Release

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Published Oct 1, 2020:

Our partnership with other metro-Atlanta area makerspaces in making and delivering PPE to healthcare and other frontline professionals as Atlanta Beats Covid (ABC), is on the verge of wrapping up our initiative, as we are, thankfully, not needed. Our mission, to make and deliver PPE during the pandemic as supply chains were disrupted, has come to a close.

After an extremely generous donation from the Jim Ellis Family and Accenture in August and early September, and with PPE now readily available commercially, over the past several weeks we have been able to purchase and directly ship tens of thousands of face shields, masks, gowns, gloves, and sanitizers to more quickly meet the needs of schools and other organizations that don’t have the immediate funds.

Thanks huge to all of our makers, volunteers, donors, and sponsors for helping us make and deliver almost 60,000 PPE since March 2020! Woot Woot!

Stay positive, Test negative: Please continue to wear your masks, socially distance, and wash your hands.

We’re in this together and things will get better!