Cemex donates $10,000 to FireStarter FABLab

Tuesday, The Cemex Foundation made a donation of $10,000, presented by Cemex Plant Manager Alex Guyse, to the FireStarter FABLab in Warner Robins. Currently, the FABLab is producing and donating articles of personal protective equipment (PPE) for donation to health care professionals. These items include face shields, plexiglass partitions, tension strips which secure face masks without involving the ears, and plastic gowns. FABLab board member and volunteer, John Luppino, shared that thousands of supplies had been delivered thus far.

“There was a need. The hospital said they needed help, so volunteers stepped up and said we can give you some support,” Luppino said, adding that he believed the number of items donated was approaching 16,000.

Luppino said that on Monday, 2,000 gowns, 1,000 face shields and 1,000 tension strips were delivered to the VA hospital in Atlanta, and some others that have received donations are Houston Healthcare, and Coliseum Medical and Navicent Health in Macon. Luppino also added that donations have been sent out of state, to places like California, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio.

FABLab Managing Board Member Jay Flesher informed that though the project started with providing PPE to front line workers, the program is now extending to include small businesses, to assist in filling their needs as well.

Flesher shared that all labor is performed by volunteers working in small groups practicing social distancing in morning and evening sessions, but Flesher also said that the operation is capable of producing 300 to 400 gowns per night at the cost of around a dollar per gown.

“It’s just one big community. It’s good that every one pulled together on this,” Flesher later shared.

In regard to donations to the operation Flesher shared, “It allows us to stop asking the question, where are the funds going to come from?” Flesher explained that the FABLab had been fronting the cost, and made it to $20,000 “in a heartbeat.” Flesher said to keep the momentum going, there had to be product coming in.

“That’s what’s developed; 45 days in, now we have volunteers showing up three or for times a week to kick this stuff out,” Flesher said.

Lieutenant Colonel Jay Vizcarra, Chief of the Robins Air Force Base Spark Innovation, said that airmen also donated their time in the endeavor. Vizcarra explained that the program is the lead focal point for innovation at the base, and they collaborated with the FireStarted FABLab to bring PPE to local hospitals and institutions.

“It shows, as far as all of this that’s transpired, the power of collaboration as well as networks…It really is a true story of how in COVID-19, all industry, FABLabs, and even hospitals and universities combined together, and we got solutions pretty rapidly,” Vizcarra said.

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