Hardwire Donates Two Million Face Shields to New York City Schools

POCOMOKE CITY, Md., Oct. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hardwire, LLC, the leading provider of life saving armor solutions to the military, law enforcement, schools and businesses, is proud to announce its donation of two million face shields to New York City's Department of Education. The donation will help the country's largest school system to more fully open, allowing students, parents, teachers and all stakeholders to more safely return to the classroom.  

"We heard the cry for better PPE from the Big Apple's teachers, their union, and parents for a safe re-opening of schools. We had to answer," said Hardwire's CEO George Tunis. "As a working father of four with a working spouse, and as an employer of essential workers who have families of their own, we understand how important it is to ensure schools are open, safe, and functional for teachers, staff, students, and their families."

Hardwire's donation of top-quality, U.S.-manufactured face shields will provide an added layer of protection for all teachers and faculty members throughout the New York City School System. In the last two weeks, Hardwire dispatched 35 trucks to the New York City Department of Education.  The vital PPE is now being distributed to schools.

"Our city owes a debt of gratitude to those, like Hardwire, who stepped up to help New York during this crisis," said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. "These face shields will be put to immediate use serving students across this city – especially our students with disabilities. We will recover from this pandemic faster because of the tremendous generosity of people who love and care about New Yorkers standing by our side."

"We are dedicated to enhancing the survivability of humans," Tunis said. "In a pandemic, available and high-quality PPE is just as important to our nation's survivability as our body armor is to the men and women that count on it every day."

The donation continues Hardwire's commitment to assisting a nation in need. When the pandemic struck, it was obvious to the Hardwire team that they needed to join the COVID-19 fight.  The company immediately retooled one of its manufacturing facilities to produce high-quality, reusable face shields. Within days, Hardwire was supplying these vital PPE components to FEMA, state governments, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, and individuals. Using displaced local workers, Hardwire helped its local economy, and achieved a daily production rate of over 100,000 units per day, passing much larger fortune 500 companies in capacity.        

Hardwire designed and made only reusable face shields keeping a keen eye on the sustainability of the product.  Reusable products reduce the environmental impact of medical waste by a factor of 100 or more. The key to reuse is the ability to completely clean the face shield with solvents or cleaners, such as isopropyl alcohol. Many other face shields currently used by schools and front-line health care workers lack closed-cell foam padding, making them impossible to clean effectively. 

"Our company is located near Maryland beaches, and we have watched the density of disposable PPE washing up on the shores of the beach increase all summer. As a nation, we must strive to create reusable, sustainable PPE. This type of face shield lowers the cost per use and can significantly reduce the environmental impact.  However, the reusability must be valued by decision makers," said Tunis.

Hardwire hopes this donation can set an example for the nation for how to be successful during the fight of this pandemic, starting in New York City.  "Hardwire applauds all the U.S.-based PPE manufacturers that have made sustainable products and contributed to the fight."

About Hardwire

Hardwire provides protective armor systems to the military, law enforcement, and public entities such as school systems. The Company has armored police vehicles for large cities and municipalities, covered miles of the nation's critical bridges with armor, outfitted countless police officers with life-saving protection, and supplied the United States Special Operations Command and the United States Marine Corps with body armor. Because Hardwire is a survivability company, crises are when it excels. Visit www.HardwireLLC.com for more information.

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SOURCE Hardwire, LLC