The Helping Hand Project,

The Helping Hand Project works to support the limb difference community and to educate the individuals that wish to impact it by using 3D printing to provide free recreational prosthetic devices which are designed with children in mind. These devices are easily customizable, low-cost, and are built off of an iterative design that can be easily customized. Additionally, we host events which bring together the community and show children with limb differences that they are not alone. At the heart of our organization is an incredible team of students, community members and care providers who are driven to support the limb difference community. This diverse and vibrant group drives us to continually improve the services and support we provide. Currently, The Helping Hand Project has chapters at UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, NC State, and Durham Tech Community College, all of which specialize in different areas. The chapter at UNC Chapel Hill chapter provides families with Holistic Support. Core activities include: planning the family-get-together events that bring together the limb difference community, and organizing annual prosthetics-design conferences that facilitate the spread of practices between chapters. The chapter at Durham Tech focuses on Creative Comfort, which is a fusion of physical and emotional comfort. The chapter at UNC Charlotte focuses on Elbow-driven Devices, which use motion from the elbow, rather than from the wrist, to initiate movement of the device. This design allows a whole new group of people to benefit from the 3D-printed devices the HHP builds. The chapter at NC State specializes in Custom Designs for recipients who would not benefit from a standard 3D printed device. As a university with a large number of engineering programs, many students in this chapter have engineering backgrounds, helping them take on unique and challenging cases to come up with a creative, novel solutions.