A teacher who turned his home into a PPE factory during the pandemic was honored with a new car
When health care workers were running out of personal protective equipment as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the United States, a middle school shop teacher in New Jersey decided he had to help. Jason Erdreich turned his own home into a factory where he used 3D printers to make thousands of masks for his community during the pandemic.
One of the good guys.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
When health care workers were running out of personal protective equipment as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the United States, a middle school shop teacher in New Jersey decided he had to help.
Jason Erdreich turned his own home into a factory where he used 3D printers to make thousands of masks for his community during the pandemic.
"I mean I had to," Erdreich, 26, told CNN. "I had the resources to help, I was able to help, I couldn't not help others that were doing so much to help us. Front line workers were, and are, doing so much to care for us, someone needs to make sure they are taken care of too. I'm glad I was able to contribute to that."
Now Erdreich is one of 50 people chosen by Mazda to receive a new Mazda MX-5 Miata 100th Anniversary Special Edition for their "selfless acts, creative thinking, and contributions to community," the company announced in a press release earlier this week.
Erdreich teaches woodworking, manufacturing, and robotics at Madison Junior School in Madison, New Jersey. He was nominated by his wife, Cara Erdreich, for the award, after he collected 15 3D printers from his school, hooked them up in their living room, and printed masks day and night.
But his efforts didn't stop there. Erdreich then taught other teachers and his own students what he had learned, and together they printed more than 12,000 pieces of PPE for hospitals, nursing homes, and local frontline workers.
"I nominated you to be a Mazda hero because you were compassionate and generous in a time when people were afraid," his wife told him in a video posted by Mazda USA showing the moment he was surprised with the car.
In its announcement, the company cited "omotenashi" — the Japanese culture of putting other's needs first — as one of the reasons the company decided to create the Mazda Heroes program.
"This year has been full of challenges and we wanted to lean into our brand's heritage of finding innovative ways to brighten people's lives," said Jeff Guyton, president of Mazda North American Operations. "We were inspired to create the Mazda Heroes program to honor all those who are working tirelessly to uplift their own communities.
Erdreich and two other honorees -- an ICU nurse in Texas and a schoolteacher from Mississippi -- are the initial winners with the remainder to be announced throughout the month of December.
"I was speechless, I mean I never could have envisioned something like this happening to me, let alone for something I did," Erdreich said.
"I'm not really one for the spotlight, but this has been a truly incredible experience. I feel very fortunate, and I am endlessly appreciative to my colleagues, students, administrators, community members, and my wife that really helped make all of the PPE in the thick of the pandemic, and even more so for the frontline workers we were making the PPE for."
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Thank you, Jason!
Thanks to Jason, his wife and his students.
Highly recommend viewing the video here
video posted by Mazda USA
GREAT link, SP. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Feel good all over story.
Thank you G for a good news story !
With things being as awful as they are, it is truly great to hear about someone like Jason.
Kavika found other similar stories he shared with me. I linked them below.
american patriot.
A true American patriot.
Great article G. It is fascinating to learn about what people are doing in other parts of the country and world to help with the pandemic in the many different ways. Their willingness to go the extra mile for their fellow men and women on the front lines who risk their own lives to help others truly deserves to be acknowledged.
When we hear so much endless negativity going on in the world, it is so very heartening to learn about such selfless people doing such wonderful work for people they may not even know. And sharing what they learn with others can also help. They may never know how many lives they help save by the volunteer work they do, but, the lives they help save will never be forgotten.
Kudos to Jason.
Enjoy your new car you certainly deserve it.
Omotenashi.
He exemplifies it.
Here are a couple of links that Kavika just provided:
Great people that stepped up to help all over the country.
Great links.
Yes, they are. Thanks, Kavika!
I'm a-likin' this story. What a great guy.
He is indeed. The world is full of great guys (and gals) like Jason.
Great story, an award well deserved.
When Mazda first introduced the Miata way back when, I particularly remember that I thought it was a great little sportscar, and so incredibly affordable compared to all the others. I was already knowledgeable about Mazda, as I had bought a little Mazda RX3 station wagon as a wedding gift for my (first) wife back in 1972. It's rotary engine was so powerful she could leave a Mercedes back in the dust when the stoplight turned green.
Obviously that is an Asian culture and tradition, practised in China to the extent that it is one of the prime reasons why China was able to contain the virus so well. Very different from the attitude of "individual rights and freedoms" being more important than the collective good.
Among others, for 30+ years I represented teachers and other inner-city school employees. Teachers as a whole never get the credit or compensation most deserve and are often the scapegoats for some of society's failures and poor priorities.
I'm going to post a link here to a newspaper article about my representation of a teacher in a Philadelphia school who was responsible to a great degree for the Group BOYS II MEN, a Philly R&B group, that, is probably the biggest money-making R&B group in history! If anyone bothers to go to the article, note my (real) name above the photo.
You are so right. Teachers are some of the most important members of our society and deserve far more than they receive, both in terms of recognition and compensation. Elevating the status of teachers should be a top priority.
Also, great link! Thanks for posting it.
Nobody really knows what the joy of teaching can be, until they have actually done it themselves. I did not teach until I was 69 years old, and just seeing the results of those efforts brought me more of a feeling of having contributed to society and personal accomplishment than anything I had done previously.
Teachers are one of the most important positions/jobs in the US. They certainly need to be recognized as such much more often than they are.
Great link.
Art is wonderful, lol.
Great story of selflessness. It's so nice to know that there are people out there still ready to lend a helping hand and go the extra mile in a time of need.
Congrats Jason for truly being a role model.