Secondary schools in Troisdorf and Niederkassel to receive 450,000 masks from trio of companies to mark start of classroom teaching

With the opening of school, it's time to "pack your satchels" again. Not only with text and exercise books, but also with masks. "We are happy that face-to-face classes are starting again at our school. But we also have to be well prepared for it in view of the infection situation," says Ralph Last, school director of the Heinrich-Böll Gymnasium. On behalf of all secondary schools in Troisdorf and Niederkassel, he today accepted a donation of masks from the companies LEMO, Reifenhäuser and Rhein Sieg Werkstätten Lebenshilfe.

Last continued, "After many video conferences, we are pleased to be able to teach our students on site again. Classes have been divided for alternate instruction, face-to-face and distance instruction has been planned, and the hygiene concept has been worked out." What needs to be observed has long been second nature to everyone, he said. Forgetting masks was a thing of the past. On the contrary, today many students use several masks throughout the day. "After a few hours of wearing a mask in the classroom and in the schoolyard, you simply need a new one," Last says.

Three companies join forces for the region

To ensure that students in the region have enough masks to swap regularly, three companies in the region have joined forces for mask production. As a machine builder for nonwoven lines, Reifenhäuser knows what a mask needs to be made of to provide the best possible protection and also be comfortable to wear. "High-quality masks are made of meltblown nonwoven. This is the filter that protects us from the viruses and whose properties we are constantly developing in our technical center," explains Ulrich Reifenhäuser, CSO of the Reifenhäuser Group.

Reifenhäuser has donated the nonwoven material from such development trials for the masks with which a total of 10,800 pupils and 1,025 teachers in Niederkassel and Troisdorf are supplied. Ulrich Reifenhäuser: "We are pleased that we are making a small contribution with our nonwoven to protect the health of everyone at the surrounding schools".

Mask production machine thanks to donations and funding

Willi Fenninger and Bernd Schlarp, managing directors of the mechanical engineering company LEMO and supporting member of Lebenshilfe had provided the Rhein Sieg Werkstätten with a mask production machine with donations and funding. Since December, the workshops have been using this machine to produce medical protective masks and thus their very own product: "The job at the mask machine is highly sought after among us. Everyone wants to work with us and is proud that we have our own product, which we sell to large companies and which can even be ordered on the Internet," says Markus Wilden, Managing Director of the Rhein Sieg Werkstätten.

In between orders for corporate customers, Wilden and his team fired up the machine for schools: Approximately 50 people were involved to produce, package and assemble the 450,000 masks. Bernd Schlarp says, "Thanks to the know-how of all three companies, a great and regional product has been created, because we are all just a few kilometers apart."

Ralph Last, school director of Heinrich-Böll-Gymnasium (right), accepted the donation on behalf of all secondary schools. The masks were handed over by Bernd Schlarp, Managing Director of LEMO, Markus Wilden, Managing Director of Rhein Sieg Werkstätten and Ulrich Reifenhäuser, CSO of the Reifenhäuser Group (from left to right). The distribution to the schools is coordinated by Tanja Gaspers, head of the school department of the city of Troisdorf.

Picture: Reifenhäuser Group