EL MONTE – El Monte City School District’s Nutrition Services team will be wearing 3-D printed face shields as they feed about 5,100 children each day thanks to a donation from a team at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The District received 50 of the shields after Central Kitchen and Catering Manager Liz Estavillo Valdez heard Center for Innovation in STEM Education (CISE) Director Kamal Hamdan on an April 15 radio show describing his team’s efforts to provide shields to frontline workers.

Estavillo immediately emailed Hamdan, asking to be included in the team’s donations. She received word of the planned gift just a few days later. The 50 shields were picked up Monday, April 27.

“These shields mean the world to our team,” Estavillo said. “Our efforts to serve the community can make it difficult to practice social distancing, so these will increase our safety and efficiency as we tackle this extremely important task.”

About 80 Nutrition Services workers, aided by employees in the Maintenance/Custodial Department, are providing four daily meals for about 5,100 children during the extended school dismissal, including grab-and-go breakfasts, lunches, snacks and suppers.

The shields were accompanied by a thank-you note from the Cal State Dominguez team: “We wanted to say THANK YOU for all you do! We appreciate YOU! These Face Shields were produced by our students and staff, and were made with love. We hope you find them useful. We hope you stay healthy and safe.”

El Monte City School District Superintendent Dr. Maribel Garcia praised Estavilo for her quick action to secure the shields and the Nutrition Services team for its dedication to the children of the community.

“These meals are a benefit for so many in our community,” Garcia said. “These shields will make it so much easier to ensure we can serve our children while maintaining our personal safety.”

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

EMCSD_Shield_1-3: Members of the Nutrition Services staff wear 3-D printed face shields as they prepare meals for 5,100 community children. The shields were a gift from the Center for Innovation in STEM Education at Cal State Dominguez Hills.