Month: April 2020

Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes began 40 years ago with a mission to feed the hungry. While many things have changed in the past decades, the fight to end hunger in our community has not. Throughout the years as different disasters hit, the organization adapted to adjust for rising needs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Loaves & […]

Families throughout the country are leashing-up this oppawtunity while they’re staying at home to welcome a new furry friend into their family through adoption or fostering. In fact, in some U.S. cities, shelters are empty and fostering has increased up to 90%. Some of our region’s shelters have developed an appointment system with safety requirements to […]

Whether through poetry or song, we’ll shout it loud and clear, we love Kalamazoo! In 1942, Glenn Miller and his orchestra expressed their love for our great town with “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.” Almost 40 years later in 1980, the Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry painted walls across Kalamazoo with murals of poems. Many […]

In business for more than 100 years, Freeman Manufacturing is well versed in adapting to the times. While product evaluation and customer service demands have forced many changes over the years, the commitment to product excellence and customer satisfaction continues. Headquartered in Sturgis, the organization is registered with the FDA and specializes in creating different […]

With the onset of COVID-19, professors and staff from Western Michigan University’ (WMU)’s Department of Industrial and Entrepreneurial Engineering and Engineering Management and Information Technology labs looked for ways their resources could help. Noticing global activity within the maker space around designing face shields, the teams identified a pattern online created by 3DVerkstan, a 3D […]

Speeding to the call for action, local companies Outerwears and JAC began making masks as soon as the need arose. Under the same ownership, both facilities specialize in cutting and sewing. Outerwears, located in Schoolcraft specializes in air filtration for general automotive and power sport use while JAC, based in Dowagiac focuses on creating health […]

Like many manufacturers, Total Plastics International was hit hard when demand for its supply of diverse plastics and related products suddenly hit the brakes due to COVID-19. That all changed when a nurse from Johns Hopkins contacted the company’s Baltimore facility for help in finding a way to make face shields to protect health care […]

Schupan Aluminum & Plastic Sales is developing an acrylic box that gives doctors and nurses an extra layer of protection against COVID-19. With thousands of patients around the U.S. hooked up to ventilators to combat symptoms of the virus, an equal number of health care providers are exposed when connecting people under medical care to […]

With more than 30 years of medical industry experience and 100 years of engineering leadership and global infrastructure, Parker Hannifin is more than stepping up in the global fight against COVID-19 by delivering vital resources to emergency ventilator manufacturing support. With the current high demand for life-saving ventilators, the global manufacturer of motion and control […]

Inspired by the actions of a crafting store, the team at Duncan Aviation knew they could also create face masks simulated off medical masks to help employees and the greater community. Produced from cotton-based material donated by local vendors including Lucid Collections, Romo Incorporated, and Tennant and Associates, Duncan utilizes the sewing machines typically used to […]

Wondering now why you did it: Why did you buy all that toilet paper? We know the answer. You saw someone with a cart full of it and, suddenly, you wanted it more than anything else. In case you’re now wondering how long your hoard of toilet paper will last you, someone terrific out there […]

In response to the changing needs of health around the world, Stryker raced to develop an Emergency Relief Bed to support both patients and healthcare workers during the unprecedented high-demand for patient platforms in the midst of COVID-19. Brad Saar, president of the medical division of Stryker, released a statement saying, “We’ve listened and worked to […]