Los Angeles area healthcare workers are benefitting from the innovation and generosity of local organizations that have come forth to provide essential personal protective equipment (PPE) to Los Angeles area hospitals and medical centers.
It started with Tieks, a local shoe manufacturer specialized in women’s foldable flats. The company, headed by Israeli-American entrepreneur Kfir Gavrieli, started a movement in March at the onset of the pandemic to encourage its followers and supporters to come together and sew cloth facemasks for essential health workers.
Using the hashtag #SewTogether, Tieks mobilized its fan base on social media with online sewing instructions and product discounts as incentives for those willing to sew and donate cloth facemasks. This campaign has produced donations of over one million face masks as part of the Tieks Operation #SewTogether campaign. The company also provided gift cards to essential workers, an initiative that many health workers took advantage of to acquire a pair of the company’s comfy flats.
The story of the #SewTogether campaign spread quickly and inspired others in the Los Angeles area to also make contributions to local healthcare workers. After the #SewTogether campaign was launched in early spring, other local groups began to follow in Tieks’ footsteps.
One such company is the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), which, in an effort to alleviate the shortage of (PPE) in Los Angeles County hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, has partnered with the Los Angeles Public Library’s Octavia Lab to produce and donate reusable face shields for local essential health workers.
“Our team was looking at things that we could help in the COVID crisis,” Matt Petersen, CEO of LACI explained in an interview earlier in the year. “We have $15 million dollars of equipment and software on the campus which normally cleantech entrepreneurs would be working on to figure out solutions to the climate crisis.” The company decided to turn its attention to production of reusable face shields in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
During the first phase of production, the generous support of Metabolic Studio and Snap Inc. contributed to the production and distribution of over 10,000 reusable face shields to Los Angeles County hospitals and essential healthcare workers.
Using a model similar to that used by Tieks, LACI incentivized its followers, along with other members of the local community and the public at large, to donate directly to their production efforts, amplifying their results. They are still accepting public donations to directly cover materials and manufacturing costs for the face shields, which have been field-tested by doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. An additional partner, Water and Power Community Credit Union (WPCCU), also stepped up and launched a public campaign supporting LACI’s fundraising efforts, with an offer to match the first $1,000 raised.
Tieks also came on board to support LACI’s initiative, as did the Octavia E. Butler Estate. Contributions from these partners helped LACI to significantly increase production capacity. Two additional partners, the Los Angeles Public Library and Greater Los Angeles Hospital Registry, have provided distribution support in getting the face shields directly to LA County hospitals.
Having already produced and donated more than 10,000 face shields, the expanded program will produce an additional 20,000 for donation to Los Angeles County hospitals and health care workers.
Other partners have joined the Los Angeles Public Library, including the City of Baldwin Park, Goodwill of Southern California, and the Los Angeles County’s Youth@Work Program, by launching a program that hires LA County youth aged 14 – 24 to assemble LACI face shields. The Youth@Work program, sponsored by the LA County Workforce Development Aging and Community Services (WDACS), provides paid employment to LA County youth to help open up career pathways for them in growing industries. In addition to shield production, the youth working with LACI will also benefit from an educational program that exposes them to lucrative career opportunities battling the climate crisis in the cleantech sector, such as project management, industrial manufacturing, and industrial design.
LACI is excited about how the initiative brings together entrepreneurs, artists, philanthropists, government entities, and community leaders to take action in the face of community challenges, be it the pandemic or climate change. The company intends to use this program as a model for continued community action to tackle challenges such as the climate crisis. All in all, when community groups come together for the common good as they have in this case, Los Angeles County residents reap many benefits.
