MILFORD, Connecticut — We’ve heard stories from across Connecticut about how both businesses and individuals are rising to the occasion in the fight against COVID-19. And now, there’s one about folks shielding those on the front lines.
A Milford auto accessories business, which is obviously slow now, has morphed its business to meet the need.
“We normally do window tinting, remote starters and we do a lot of high-end fabrication,” said Milton Benavides
Owner, of Speed of Sound Technologies in Milford.
But now, his company decides to begin creating medical face shields, free of charge.
“I was blessed to have the industrial machines to produce quite a bit at one time,” he said.
They’re supplying hospitals and other organizations throughout the state. One nurse picked up her supply this morning
“To keep us safe, the employees, and to keep most importantly the children that are in residence and our care as safe as possible,” said an appreciative Kim Kreiger, a nurse for Boys and Girls Village, Milford.
Speed of Sound even pooled resources with a competitor from Waterbury, KarTele, which is A popular thing to do among automotive specialty businesses nationwide.
“It’s mostly the guys with high tech laser cutters and the CNC machines and they just stop business altogether and focus on the face shields,” said Michael Hungerford, Owner of KarTele.
Because these face shields are being donated, Speed of Sound created a GoFundMe page to help keep this mission moving.
And there are even kids making face shields for those on the frontlines.
“We 3-D print the bands for the face shields and then we attach the piece of plastic to it,” said Lucas Nichols, an 8th grader from Cheshire.
He borrowed a 3-D printer from Kingswood Oxford School to make face shields at home.
To 3-D print two of these at a time it takes one hour and a half,” Nichols said.
So far, he’s made nearly two dozen face shields. Many of them are being delivered to the local health department.
“It makes me feel happy because I’m definitely helping everybody in need of any shields or protection against the virus,” the 8th grader said.
You can catch Lucas doing Facebook lives showing his process periodically.
The following is the GoFundMe link for Speed of Sound in Milford: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fmb5x-help-fight-covid19?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&rcid=91abf519cf6a40cbb088bafe3965fb80