By Mary Alice Murphy

Photos Courtesy of Future Forge

Stephen Lindsey, chairman of the board and one of the original members of Future Forge and its predecessor the MakerSpace, said it all began about two years ago. He, Gabe Farley and Nick Prince started the MakerSpace.

"It's our community so we have to stick together," Lindsey said. "What I like to resort to in times of panic is what Nelson Mandela said: 'We do not fear. We lead and together we stand strong.'

"My mother is a lab tech at Gila Regional Medical Center and when we learned that there was a shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) for hospital staff, we stepped up to make what was needed," Lindsey said. "One of the local teachers, Ayshford Henegan, helped us find the sources for patterns and specs to make items needed by local health care groups. We have already provided face shields to Fort Bayard Medical Center, Hidalgo Medical Services, Silver Health Care and Gila Regional Medical Center, which ordered 100 of them. We told them we did not want to charge for them, but we would take any donations to keep providing what the community needs. We are swamped right now, with making the face shields, respirators, masks and gowns. Teachers and professors are doing the research on what’s effective and best for the needs. Our items are not medical grade and not approved or inspected by medical authorities, but we are following federal guidelines in our production processes."

He noted that similar products have been inspected in other locations and are in use in places, like Washington, California and New York.

"I feel a duty to help out how we can," Lindsey said. "Best case scenario, the hospital and other health care facilities will get the medical grade PPE they need, but this can help out in the meantime. If we can save only one person, it will be worth it. If I get sick, I'll be going to our hospital, and I know I will have good care there."

Future Forge started as a for-profit, but about 1½ months ago, the group became a non-profit, Lindsey told the Beat. "Once we secured a space and knew it was going to work, we decided to apply for 501c3 status. We have three officers. Our treasurer is Gabe, our secretary is Mary Stone, I'm the chairman, and Nick Farley is the at-large board member."

He said Prince had decided to keep doing his computer repair business, which is located in the Quonset hut on Pope Street.

"We formally opened as a non-profit on Feb. 7, 2020, about a month before different things began happening in the world," Lindsey said.

He said he and Gabe had always wanted a community space. "I've been here 20 years, and I've gone through school here, including Western New Mexico University. I knew we needed something to captivate the interest of and occupy the youth of the community."

His sister lives in Los Alamos, which has a MakerSpace. "She introduced me to it, and I came home with boxes of electronics and 3D printers and other stuff. She also gave me contacts with people."

Lindsey said a national group, the Nation of Makers, was a contact his sister gave him, and it was going to hold a conference. "I couldn't afford the fee to attend, and my sister said: 'No, we want to take you as our guest.' So off we went to Santa Fe. We met lots of like-minded folks. When we got back to Silver City, we escalated our intent to secure a space. We found the space at 212 S. Bullard and the landlord agreed to rent out portions of the space until the group could afford the entire square footage. "We are using about 3,000 square feet right now. We need 60 members a month to be able to pay for the full 12,000 square feet."

Along their journey the idea of glass recycling and recycling in general came up when the town ceased doing recycling. Future Forge has a plastic shredder and mold. "We were getting overwhelmed, so we asked if anyone wanted to take it on. Chris Lemme stepped up and led the fundraising to get it all started to crush glass. The town agreed to buy a glass crusher, which we have now received and are training our staff on it, including me. The town will use the material as trench fill, basically turning it back into the sand it started as. We now have a separate group, Silver City Recycles, in partnership with the town, which we helped to facilitate."

Future Forge is located at 212 S. Bullard St, across from the Home Furniture warehouse. For more information on what the group does and has to offer, email futureforgenm@gmail.com or visit the website https://www.thefutureforge.org/home.

Although COVID-19 governmental mandates have closed the facility until future notice, its regular hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

He noted on the Future Forge website, people who wish to donate can click on Donate. "We have enough right now to continue with our efforts to make health care PPE, but we always need more for this project and future ones."

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.