The Hand Medal Project

Well, hard to believe, but yesterday there was snow in Toronto!  I can’t believe that winter is coming already.

There’s been a lot happening in the world recently, and sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do, and it’s easy to feel like you need to find some way to contribute.  This is a bit about one of the things I’ve elected to participate in. (I have been making a lot of cloth masks!!)

One of my colleagues sent me a link to something called the Hand Medal Project. You can see lots of photos on their dedicated instagram account. It recently wrapped up the maker phase, so it seemed like a good time to talk about it a little.

Some finished medals

What’s that you say?  You can read some nice things about it at the link, but it’s essentially about community recognising the amazing and vital efforts that health care workers have made to all of us during the Covid-19 outbreak. 

The idea is that jewellers around the world volunteer to make little metal medals in the shape of a hand, with a little ribbon, which will then be distributed to health care workers.  All the makers have a registered number, so that the recipients can find out who made their hand, if they want to.

Cutting out in copper

There are a lot of things that appealed to me about the project.  The hands are a tangible recognition from the community of contribution, as well as a memory of this period of time.  I also like the idea that they will be given out to workers by their peers and own community. Of course, my secret hope is that so many people participate, and that we make soooooo many medals, that everyone who “should” get one, can have one. I’m not sure how realistic that is, but it’s good to have goals! Especially since I didn’t quite manage to do as many as I aimed to (those little fingers were definitely challenging to get between to finish!!)

Working on finishing

My hope is that you are all staying healthy, listening to the government and healthcare experts, and following the guidance that they are recommending in this time, by being mindful of physical distancing from others and wearing face masks.  Let’s all do our part to keep each other safe and healthy and keep from spreading infection.  The more we do this, the sooner we will all be able to get back to some semblance of the life we’d rather have.

Have a great week!

-Robin