Enviromaker and 3D Printing Non-Profit Projects of 2019

As you may know, Print Your Mind 3D contributes a portion of every sale to our Enviromakers initiative around education, innovation, and medicine. We were able to do a lot of good thanks to these initiatives in 2019 that we want to share a summary. The projects ranged from planting 500 trees, donating two full 3D printer systems to schools in need, building a prosthetic as part of the I4H Health Hack, and a whole lot more. Learn more about each project below:

1) 10 to 1 3D Printer Donations

We made a commitment that for every 10 3D printers sold in the summer, we would donate one to a school or community hub who could otherwise not afford one. The motivation behind this was to provide the tools to those students and teachers who want to 3D print for good, but simply don't have access to those. As a result of this initiative, we were able to donate two 3D printers to two very deserving schools here in Calgary.

Bowcroft School in Calgary

Bob Edwards School in Calgary

Learn more about this project

2) 5 Trees for Every Spool

In September, we committed to planting 5 trees for every spool of Print Your Mind 3D PLA sold by partnering with One Tree Planted. Although we did not quite reach our goal with only 87 spools sold which would have been 435 trees, we decided to make the full donation any ways. We successfully planted 500 trees thanks to the incredible support of our customers.

Learn more about this project

3) 3D Printed Prosthetic for Young Albertan 

One of the projects that we have been working on for well over a year now, is the prosthetic hand for Jerlena. This has been a particularly challenging project as we have had so many volunteer members join and leave the project. Even with the high member turnover, we have not wavered from our commitment to help Jerlena. That is why Colin decided to pitch the project as one of about 35 projects to over 300 students, professionals, and professors as part of the Innovation 4 Health Competition. Although the final result of the competition was not the functional prototype we hoped for, the majority of the team has remained actively working on the project. We continue to meet weekly even in 2020 developing the concept, building strategic partnerships, and working prototyping designs to reach our final goal. 

Learn more about this project

4) STEM 4 Good Event

In January we host a STEM 4 Good event in partnership with Stem Learning Lab. The goal of the event was to share how 3D printing could be used for good. Our very own Colin Pischke gave a presentation on the many ways 3D printing is changing the world for the better, and we worked together with the students to assemble open source prosthetic hands. All profits from the event were donated to the Victoria Hand Project who produces low-cost, 3D printed upper limb prosthesis that are deployed in countries across the world where access to prosthetic care is difficult and costly. 

Learn more about this project

5) Makers Making Change Switch Building Event

In August we co-hosted an event with Mount Royal University's Maker Studio and Makers Making Change. As part of the event, Colin gave a presentation on 3D printing for good and about 20 attendees assembled the Round Flexure Switch. These switches enable those with fine motor control difficulty the ability to operate electronic devices much easier. These were all donated to members of the local Calgary community. 

Learn more about this event


 

All of these projects are only possible thanks to the continued support of our customers. We so so grateful to have come as far as we have but we have more work to do. If you are interested to speak with us about any of these projects please email enviromakers@printyourmind3d.ca or call 587-226-2645.