A company that creates customized awards for corporate events and conferences deserves to receive one of its own. Lisa Higginbotham, owner of FiveStar Awards and Engraving, has pivoted her business to create face shields for health professionals and others who need protective gear.
“I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out how I could use my tools to help with this virus,” she said. “Then one of my suppliers sent out a video showing lasers making face shields, and I had a lightbulb moment. I decided that while I couldn’t spend any money right now, I could use my tools to make these and give them to our first responders and caregivers.”
A Speedy 300 laser cuts out acrylic halos, which will eventually be face shields.
Higginbotham created Halos For Heroes – Psalm 91, with the initial goal of creating 1,000 masks. She would ask for donations to pay for the materials, and FiveStar would supply the tools and the labor.
After reaching out to the Apex Sunrise Rotary Club and other groups in the area, a Rotary colleague asked if she would collaborate with him, Caterpillar and N.C. State University to produce another 25,000 masks.
Jeff Higginbotham cleans face shields before putting them in the assembly line for packaging.
“It’s just mushroomed,” she said.
Higginbotham launched a GoFundMe page, and within a week, she was able to fund materials for the first 1,000 shields, which will be cut using FiveStar’s lasers. The remaining masks will be constructed in a slightly different manner, using a 3D printer to make the headpiece, or halo, and lasers to cut the shields.
FiveStar’s industry partners helped to reduce material costs and donated a 3D printer, but donations are still needed to pay for the remaining 25,000 masks.
Once finished, the masks will be made available at no cost for essential workers and the general public.
“We are grateful to be able to use our equipment and resources lying idle in these unprecedented times for the greater good! God gave us this business and provides for our families, so we asked how we could use it during this time of need,” Higginbotham writes on the Halos For Heroes – Psalm 91 fundraiser page. “We are here to serve.”
She also quotes from Psalm 91, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart…”
