Hornets who Serve

"Our business, Walker Custom Metal, offers custom metal art, 3D printing, vinyl cutting, and powder coating. Pre-pandemic, we were mostly producing decorative metal signs, like house numbers and door hangers. We were 3D printing some small custom items. Brian saw that there was a need for the 3D-printed face shields but he didn’t know how we would be able to find out who needed them in the community. One evening, we saw on the news that a group of artists at Abode Studios, was sewing cloth masks and gowns and donating them to local medical facilities. Abode had a website set up where medical professionals could submit requests for different items they needed. One of the more requested items were the 3D printed face shields. The Abode team had one 3D printer, but we had four. So, when we reached out to them about volunteering, they were excited to have our help.

"The Lowenthal Family (Julie Donaldson Lowenthal ‘79, Corbin A. Parker ‘06, Brennan M. Lowenthal ‘12, Grayson P. Lowenthal ‘14, and Peyton Y. Lowenthal ‘18) owns and operates several restaurants in the Savannah area, including BowTie Barbecue Co and Houlihan’s. Throughout the shutdown, both restaurants remained open for curbside pick up, making sure families were able to get food if needed. BowTie Barbecue’s food truck, Beauregard’s Chariot, was able to visit neighborhoods throughout the Low Country, making sure families that were part of the shelter-in-place mandate could still get fresh hot food and not have to go far! 

In a CNN interview, Mr. Feiler discusses the concept of a "lifequake," which is the topic of his new book, Life is in the Transitions. According to Feiler, the current pandemic represents a lifequake, and he explains how we can best navigate this transitional period we are all facing in our lives today.

Click here to watch the full interview.

"A group of Hornet alumni and parents who attend St. John's Church enjoyed making and distributing masks to members of their church and others in the community who were in need.  As volunteers know, true joy comes from serving others, and these alumni enjoyed escaping the quarantine to fellowship (from a distance) with those receiving masks. It was a blessing to have a fun task to do and to travel around town getting to see familiar faces we were missing.  We also met new friends who were so grateful and appreciative, and we all had the gift of time which provided us with an opportunity to connect with one another.  Hornet alumni included Nita Ann (Knight) Klein ‘77 Cathy (Crawford Baxter) '96, and parents of alumni included Martha Sullivan (Sarah (Sullivan) Austin '02) and Marilyn Glen (Jonathan Glen '02 & Julia Glen Duckworth ‘99)."

"Thanks to the help and generosity of 15 other local small businesses I (as the owner of Glow MedSpa) was able to create, organize and spearhead a project called Thank You Bags! We delivered 200 care bags to first responders at St. Joseph's Candler with each bag containing masks, luxury hand soap and gift cards from Spa Bleu, candy, pampering items, complimentary meal vouchers from 10 local restaurants, beautiful wraps from fashion brand Hannah, and gift cards to come into Glow MedSpa for free facials. The 200 bags were our small way of giving a big thank you to those helping us all so very much and so deserving of special love. 

"I'm the Division Head of Gastroenterology at Mount Sinai Hospital and Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago where we had a combined daily census of over 100 inpatients with COVID-19 for several weeks during the peak. I've had to perform EGD and Colonoscopies on several COVID-19 positive patients, but fortunately, our hospital bought PAPRs (Powered Air Purifying Respirators) to help keep us safe. We've also been wearing N95 Masks.