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ABOUT US

Our Mission

We are a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded to meet the urgent need of connecting our HEROES with the ARMOR that they require to stay safe.

Our HEROES are our nurses, doctors and health care providers fighting the virus head on. Our HEROES are our mail carriers, grocery store employees, sanitation workers and everyone who faces potential infection while they keep our world spinning. Our HEROES include everyone who stays home, sacrificing their livelihoods to keep us safe. In this effort, ALL ARE ESSENTIAL. HEROES are everywhere and we protect them ALL.

The ARMOR we supply is the gear necessary to stay safe in the time of pandemic. This ARMOR includes medical grade Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), as well as reusable face masks, soap, sanitizing supplies, and the knowledge required to stay protected in the face of COVID-19.

OUR ORIGIN

Before the virus first landed in New York threatening to overwhelm the healthcare system and workers who did not have enough Personal Protective Equipment to keep themselves safe, we organized and sprang into action to help. We created Shields For Heroes to supply ARMOR to those who FIGHT COVID-19. Our first donation was a large quantity of supplies to help SUNY Downstate Brooklyn Hospital convert to COVID only.  Soon after we were donating face shields by the thousands to more than one hundred facilities in the NYC metro area. In some health care facilities our face shields were their only face shields. 

Since our first days our aim has remained singular: to bridge the gap in safety supply from this time of pressing need to a time when the danger of infection by COVID-19 has passed. 

WHO WE ARE

Richard "Dickie" DiBella
President, Founder

Before the pandemic DiBella’s work consisted largely of production design for stage and film productions off-Broadway, on Broadway, for movies and for television. As show business shuttered early in the pandemic he sought ways to put his skill set to use and satisfy a growing need for safety supplies in the New York City community. Today, Shields For Heroes is a joint effort including many of DiBella’s artistic collaborators, all of whom have redirected their energy to the task of lending a hand in the time of pandemic.

Amelia Modlin
Director of Operations

Modlin’s extensive experience in production and sourcing have come to great use in her work with Shields For Heroes. Pre-pandemic, Modlin worked as an Art Director for television and live events, an aerialist, and most recently as the founder of an artist’s collaborative and retreat Wild Arts. Modlin is grateful to have the opportunity to put her skills to work making a difference during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hannah Guerrero
Director of Distribution

Hannah Guerrero received a BFA from The Cooper Union in 2012. Along with her studies in sculpture and drawing, Hannah learned the importance of access to education for all and has been committed to spreading that message since graduating. While working as a professional scenic artist on many productions throughout NYC, Hannah found herself without work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Searching for a way to help and insure access to proper PPE for NYC’s frontline healthcare workers Hannah joined the SFH team.