The Helping Hand Project

10/26/2022

We are excited to announce our fall event will be November 12th at the Discovery Place in Charlotte from 1-5 pm! Please send your RSVP to [email protected] asap to reserve your ticket. We look forward to seeing you all there :)

07/19/2022

Welcome to the Helping Hand Project Volunteer Spotlight! In this series, we showcase all the wonderful volunteers, past and present that make up our large and diverse community.

This week, our volunteer spotlight is on Emma Coltoff. Emma is the founder and current president of the Wake Forest School of Medicine chapter and is a graduate student in the Doctoral Program in Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest. This chapter, founded last year, takes on a more research-focused approach to the HHP with volunteers currently in grad and medical school!
On top of her academic pursuits and service, Emma enjoys spending time outdoors, doing activities such as hiking, camping, and kayaking. She also enjoys other fitness activities like powerlifting, ballet and rollerblading!

How did you get involved?
I was a professional engineer working in Winston-Salem and wanted to get involved with HHP. I reached out to Jeff in January 2020, and the rest is history!

What was your most impactful moment as a volunteer?
On a call with a recipient, he explained that one of the goals for his device was to be able to change his infant daughter's diaper. While diapers aren't usually an emotional subject, the impact of what we were doing and how our devices impacted the day-to-day lives of the recipients really struck me at that moment.

What was most interesting/fun as a volunteer?
Our chapter met a potential recipient in February of this year. At the meeting were three HHP members -- one on a foot scooter, one on crutches, and me with an ankle brace. The recipient asked if it was intentional. It wasn't, but I think it helped us all to be a little more sympathetic to individuals with limited mobility!

Emma is grateful to be part of the Helping Hand Project. She's been interested in this work for a while and feels so fortunate to be a part of it in any way she can! :)
Her email is always open for collaboration! You can reach out to Emma at [email protected]!

07/15/2022

Hey all!
Happy Friday!!!

This week here's a video by Chris Ruden.

Chris Ruden is an amputee, Type 1 diabetic record-holding powerlifter, keynote speaker and disabled model who was featured on The Rock’s hit TV show “Titan Games”

With all that he's accomplished, and all the adversity he's been through, he encourages future generations to "create your world without limits".

Feel free to check him out!

Limb difference awareness month April 2022 Top inspirational keynote speaker Chris ruden Chrisruden.com

07/10/2022

Welcome to the Helping Hand Project Volunteer Spotlight! In this series, we showcase all the wonderful volunteers, past and present that make up our large and diverse community.

This week, our volunteer spotlight is on Robin Jacob. Robin was formerly the president of the UNCG chapter in 2021-2022 and is currently a graduate student pursuing a masters in Biomedical Engineering at the NCSU UNC joint department. Robin’s other hobbies include playing musical instruments, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Videography.

How did you get involved?

My campus posted an announcement for an open leadership position with HHP. I knew nothing about 3D printers, but I wanted to learn! I signed up and joined and it was easily the best decision I made.

What was your most impactful moment as a volunteer?

Printing for the first time and building a hand really opened up my eyes to what could be done in the health innovations space. Going from a person who knew nothing about 3D printing and being able to slowly teach myself and make something, it instilled the confidence in me to apply to graduate school. I wouldn't be in my grad program at UNC/NC State if it wasn't for the HHP.

What was most interesting/fun as a volunteer?

Even though there were a lot of projects in our campus Makerspace, everyone always found our prosthetics really interesting! They always stopped to ask us questions and wanted to learn more. Our devices are a practical application of 3D printing that changes people's lives. The fact we can create and build something that makes such a huge impact always blows people away, including myself sometimes!

HHP is an experience Robin recommends to everyone “you don't need to be an expert. Just be willing to learn! It can open the doors to amazing opportunities and possible careers down the road. ”

07/08/2022

Hey all!
Happy Friday!
To cap off the week, here's a video by Alexis over at Stump Kitchen. Alexis is a content creator born with a congenital limb difference, who uses her platform to celebrate body diversity and vegan gluten free cooking.

Click the link below to check out her amazing content!

SUBSCRIBE to Stump Kitchen! Feel free to post cooking and stump related questions and comments below :) Stump Kitchen MERCH: www.stumpkitchen.com Animation:...

07/05/2022

Hello! Welcome to the Helping Hand Project! We are a 501 3(c) non-profit organization that aims to support the limb difference community and educate individuals who wish to impact it. One of the ways we do this is by designing free, custom-designed recreational prosthetics via 3D printing techniques. We currently have seven student-led chapters spanning multiple college campuses & graduate programs across North Carolina and nationwide. We provide our volunteers with the technical skills and knowledge to design and assemble our custom-fitted devices.
Since returning to in-person activity in 2021-2022, we have almost doubled in volunteers eager to give back to their local community by designing free prosthetics for those in need. We have also had our first in-person family gathering since lock down, last April! If you are interested in joining our support network or receiving a personalized device, please reach out to us either via messenger or our website for more contact information. If you have any other questions or recommendations on how we can best serve you, please message us! Thank you for your time!

03/28/2022

We are excited to announce we will be having our spring family gathering in person this year! Please email us to RSVP or for more details! We can’t wait to see you there😊

02/27/2022

Excited to have more events like this in 2022! Keep on the lookout for new updates from The HHP🦾