Along with Joseph Velasquez, professor of art at Florida Atlantic University and chair of the SGCI Ad Hoc Committee on Community Exchange, Blake Sanders and Hannah March Sanders worked to donate a Takach Manufacturing Corporation 2648 Floor Model Lithography Press to the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras (UPRRP) printshop in 2020. We raised nearly $11,000 in 60 days in crowdsourced funds, soliciting donations of prints and other perks from around the world, which we shipped to donors to the campaign at various levels. Takach Press Corporation generously donated the difference in cost as well as the shipping to deliver the press to UPRRP.
We also created a donation registry for 7 other printshops around Puerto Rico to gathering equipment, tools, and materials. Sadly with the ongoing delays of the conference, this initiative has not been completed, but once the Puerto Rico conference is scheduled, we hope to pick back up where we left off so that conference attendees can bring along tools/supplies to donate in their luggage! https://sokindregistry.org/registry/puertografico