Kickstart: Even a groundhog needs PPE

I don't know if Woodstock Willie saw his shadow this morning, but I do know that he was able to fulfill his Groundhog Day duties safely behind a face shield thanks to a plastics company.

Woodstock Willie is the mascot for Woodstock, Ill.'s Groundhog Day celebration. (The city was used as the stand-in to Punxsutawney, Pa., during the filming of the Bill Murray film in the 1990s.) Woodstock also is home to thermoformer Dordan Manufacturing.

Dordan has also been producing face shields in response to COVID-19. So it was natural for Willie to turn to Dordan for help to stay safe in 2021.

Obviously a groundhog mascot isn't a standard size, Dordan's Chandler Slavin said, but "after a few hours of arts and crafts, we had something that would fit his comically large head."

We all know that there are people in the plastics industry doing good beyond their own company doors. Here's just one example.

Mary Wagner's day job is running Procter & Gamble's Imflux molding business. The senior vice president of P&G and Imflux CEO recently was named to the board of Meals On Wheels Southwest Ohio & Northern Kentucky.

"I'm excited to join Meals on Wheels' board to help support this critically important organization," Wagner said in a news release from the Cincinnati-based group. "Seniors in our community need support now more than ever, and I look forward to working with the Meals on Wheels team and other board members to continue providing existing and new services and programs."

The group has provided about 8 million meals since it was founded in 1937 as Wesley House.

A Detroit project is seeking potato chip bags to help keep the homeless a little warmer.

Eradajere Oleita told CNN that she began collecting bags in 2020 and set up a website to gather more. She cuts the bags open and converts the packaging into sleeping bags. The bags' foil lining reflects body heat and they're light and water resistant.

It takes about 150 to make one sleeping bag.

The Chip Bag Project hopes to have 60 bags completed this month. Donors can mail or drop off used bags.

"I want people to think about these things and for our products to come full circle," Oleita told CNN. "I have never been shy of humanitarian work because firstly I am ... a human."