Floor decals in public places reminding you to stay six feet away from your fellow patrons are on their way to becoming the new norm.
A new local non-profit is helping essential businesses and other organizations prepare for the change, while funneling money back into the ecosystem that’s helping to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
Be Smart, Stand Apart offers floor decals, window clings, mirror clings and A-Frame signs that businesses and public places can utilize to promote social distancing.
While they offer a variety of products, floor decals are Be Smart, Stand Apart’s main focus. The decals are printed locally at Co-Founder Dan Fronk’s commercial printing business, Dancor Solutions. Fronk says the design of the decals is intended to create a more friendly reminder to social distance than an impersonal tape X on the ground.
Made of slip-resistant laminate, the decals are sold in packs of 10 for $45. Order 100 or more and a business can have the decals customized with their logo.
Shoppers have the option to either buy a pack or give a pack.
“Consumers can buy them and ship them to their favorite local essential business no matter where it is in the country, ” says Co-Founder Drew Catanzaro.
Be Smart, Stand Apart has developed relationships with local agencies like the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County and the United Way to create a pipeline for packs donated with no specific location in mind.
Fronk says they are seeing interest from a variety of businesses, from essential operations open now like hardware stores and restaurants offering carry out, to banks and credit unions that are preparing for when the state reopens.
As businesses get ready to open their doors again, Catanzaro says they’ll bundle some of their other products together to create packages for businesses.
The idea for the non-profit stemmed from a conversation Catanzaro had with his wife, a nurse at a local hospital. She shared details from conversations at the hospital over concerns about accessing PPE for workers on the front lines. With Fronk owning a commercial print shop and Catanzaro connecting with him through his position at ComDoc, a Xerox company, the duo wondered what they could do to help.
Be Smart, Stand Apart supports the 100 Million Mask challenge by donating $5 of every package of floor decals sold. The nationwide initiative calls on manufacturers, the business community and individuals across the country to coordinate efforts in order to rapidly produce needed PPE on a large scale for the nation’s health care workers. Individuals can also donate directly to the 100 Million Mask challenge through the non-profit’s website – an easy addition that Catanzaro says has already raised nearly $2,000.
Be Smart, Stand Apart has been able to donate masks and decals as a part of the challenge, and will continue to use funding to buy additional masks for organizations like the United Way of Central Ohio, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County. An additional 20,000 masks the team bought on their own are on the way, which will be distributed to various organizations in the community.
The more people that purchase or donate floor decals, the more people Be Smart, Stand Apart can support.
“It’s up to the public to see how big this thing gets and how many people we can help,” Fronk says.
For more information, visit besmartstandapart.dancorshop.com.
