The Helpers | This week's stories of our community stepping up in a pandemic

People across Waterloo region and Guelph continue to step up and lend a hand to help their neighbours during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the last couple of weeks,CBC Kitchener-Waterloo'sThe Morning Edition hasfeatured a number of stories about them.

This week we bring you stories from Kitchener's Inksmith and their progress on delivering thousands of face shields as well as howRegion of Waterloo Museums is working to archive people's experience during the pandemic.

InkSmithships 10K face shields

CBC K-W checked in withJeremy Hedges, founder and CEO ofInkSmithand The Canadian Shield.

The tech company has shipped more than 10,000 face shields since it started printing them back in March.

The company also recently launched a new enterpriseto focus solely on producingits face shield for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"A lot of tech companies, they have a bell they ring when they get a fail. We don't do that," Hedges said.

"We have a bell when something goes out the door. When we deliver a box to a hospital or to a nursing home, a bell rings and everybody knows that what they produced is in the hands of someone that needs it to be safe."

Archiving COVID-19

Region of Waterloo Museums is asking you to send them photos, videos and written diaries on yourexperience during the pandemic.

Stacy McLennan, collections curator and registrar at Region of Waterloo Museums said they want to create an archive of these items for future exhibitions.

"People really want to have a personal connection to someone in the past and it's that personal story and the humanity of that story that people can connect to," she said.

McLennan said they hope people will keep handmade signs or artwork, and send them into thecollection.

Casting a 'critical eye' on pandemic

A pair ofWilfrid Laurier University professors are using a collection of essays written by Canadian scholars during theearly weeks of COVID-19 to "cast a critical eye" on this moment in time.

Greg Bird, an associate professor of sociology, and Penelope Ironstone, aprofessor in Laurier'sdepartment of communication studies put togetherWriting in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic: From Vulnerability to Solidarityin just two weeks.

Their project reflects on how the governmentand society has reacted to COVID-19.

"One of the big takeaways is that we need to be able to assess the way that we govern life and death in our everyday moments and to see how starkly our current moment really reveals to us some of the challenges and vulnerabilities," Ironstone said.