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Sun 8 Jan 2023 10:20PM

Concerning a Mini-Grant to Support an e-NABLE Chapter in Longmont

MS Max Scherer Public Seen by 101

Hello everyone! My name is Max Scherer, and I am a senior at Silver Creek High School in Longmont, Colorado, and a volunteer for Helping Hands of Littleton. This year, I am working towards preparing my school to host a new chapter of e-NABLE.

I was born without my right hand, and growing up I have had the opportunity to access and use prosthetic devices. However, for each new device, my family has had to make a trip across the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City, where we stay at Shriner’s Children’s Hospital. Trips like this one aren’t realistic or economical for many families and amputees, so I began looking for opportunities in my community where I could help provide prosthetics for those in need. I have always been fascinated by 3d-printing, but it wasn’t until I heard about e-NABLE that I saw 3d-printing as a way to manufacture high-quality prosthetic devices without much funding.

I believe that my experience with prosthetics and help from experienced friends and mentors, such as Nate Munro and Jaquin Buchanan, will allow me to establish a successful e-NABLE chapter at my high school. At Silver Creek, I am heavily involved in the National Honor Society and the Silver Creek Leadership Academy, and I know how to access a large network of passionate high school volunteers. Additionally, the Loveland Maker Space, Longmont TinkerMill, and the Innovation Center near Silver Creek High School provide numerous opportunities for community involvement beyond Silver Creek students.

I already have access to a 3d printer, and I just need the supplies to get my school ready to host a new chapter. Linked below is the price breakdown and the total cost of the mini-grant. Thank you so much for the support!

Sincerely,

Max Scherer

(Mini-Grant Breakdown)

MS

Max Scherer Sun 8 Jan 2023 10:21PM

I hope I did this right! I am looking for any feedback and help getting some quick starting funds. The total cost shouldn’t exceed $130.

SD

Sandra Dermisek Mon 9 Jan 2023 7:04AM

Don't get me wrong. It is of course great all the effort you are putting in trying to set up a chapter, but in my opinion this is not where the e-NABLE grants are meant for.

All chapters should find their own way to get funding for materials and so on.

The e-NABLE grants should benefit the whole community, not only a single chapter.

I am the chapter leader of e-NABLE the Netherlands and we are f.e. getting donation at maker faires, and we are getting spontaneous donation from the families we help, people or companies who like what we do and want to support this. So far we are able to pay for everything we need.

I do understand that the ease of getting donations is depending on where your chapter is located.

But you could do many things to gather donations.

For example you could organise a donation run at your school.

MS

Max Scherer Wed 11 Jan 2023 3:49PM

Thank you for your feedback and suggestions. I definitely agree that there are many other ways to pursue funding. Actually, I just recently secured a small amount of funding from my school. Furthermore, I’ve organized and volunteered at two fund-raisers for the Silver Creek Leadership Academy, raising money for both the SCLA organization and potentially for my e-NABLE pursuits. 

After reevaluating the funding, I think that the start-up costs of the chapter can be managed by the funding I have already secured. As I read some of the other proposals in this forum, I realize that I should also aim to be more project-focused when requesting a mini-grant. I’ll look to provide more feedback on how my projects will benefit the whole community, and then add them to the grant proposal. Thanks again for the reply and support ❤️. I will keep you updated on my progress!

SD

Sandra Dermisek Wed 11 Jan 2023 3:55PM

👍

JS

Jon Schull Wed 11 Jan 2023 4:33PM

Thanks for your gracious response.

If you'd like help vetting or formulating a proposal, feel free to join one of our weekly Town Hall meetings.

MS

Max Scherer Wed 11 Jan 2023 10:25PM

Sounds great! What time are the meetings?

JS

Jon Schull Wed 11 Jan 2023 10:39PM

Fridays, 11am EST, as per the calendar at https://hub.e-nable.org/calendar/global/index

SD

Sandra Dermisek Fri 13 Jan 2023 8:13AM

Hi @Jon Schull , Your welcome. 🙂 Unfortunately the meeting time is at diner time for me, but I do know that anyone is allowed to join you. Diner time when you have kids is a busy time. I sometimes listen to it partly live, while cooking trough YouTube, but mostly I view it later. Maybe you have seen a few times a reaction from me in the chat function of YouTube. The time for most meetings is at 11 or 12 am EST and that is hard for me to join. If it was at 2 or 3 pm EST it is in my evening and than there is more chance I could join. Of course I am aware that there are many time zones and everyone will have their preferences. Maybe it is possible to vary the meeting time every other week or so. This way people have maybe every other week a chance to join. Switching days may also be beneficial for people joining once in a while.