Madison Area Family Lions Club lends help to Second Mile Preschool

MADISON – Members of Madison Area Family Lions helped classroom conditions at a local school by aiding two elements critical for children’s maturation: an education and good health.

Lions members improved air quality in classrooms at Second Mile Preschool, 1000 Meadow Drive NW in Huntsville, by building and installing four Corsi-Rosenthal air filtration boxes.

“We have had our best year in terms of attendance and saw fewer illnesses among our children,” Cate DeFiore said. She is Director of Second Mile Preschool.

“These air filters are a success for our preschool. We started with two filtration systems last year and quickly realized that the filtration systems improved air quality,” De-Fiore said.

When a viral illness spread throughout the school, the only class not affected was the classroom with filtration systems.

“We asked for two more filtration boxes to cover our other classrooms,” DeFiore said. “We understand this is antidotal evidence, but it made us a believer in these systems. We now have one in every classroom.”

“We appreciate Madison Area Family Lions Club’s support to our school,” DeFiore said.

“A primary purpose of these air filters is to eliminate some upper respiratory concerns, like allergies and some viral infections,” Cheryl Emich, Lion’s Project Coordinator, said. “We were pleased to supply the Second Mile Preschool with two more air filtration systems for this academic year.”

The filtration boxes are built using Merv-13 filters that can filter particles down to .1 micron. The DIY air filtration box from Corsi-Rosenthal can help lower aerosol particles, like certain viruses, pollens and dust.

These boxes are not meant to replace HVAC system filters but to supplement the effect. The filtration system includes a simple box fan oriented upward, four MERC-13 filters and a bottom to seal the box. (corsirosenthalfoundation. org) “This is one of the efforts in the club’s ‘Vision for Learning’ program that focuses on improving the learning environment of children of all ages,” Club Vice President Tony Villamil said. “We’ll soon pick up the filtration systems to refurbish them for fall classes.”

These filtration systems must be refurbished every six months with new MERV-13 filters. Refurbishment costs the Lions Club approximately $45 per filtration system. Each filtration system requires four filters.

“If you would like to assist with this project by sponsoring a filtration system, please email the club at madisonlionsclub@gmail.com to see how you can help,” Villamil said.

For more information about Madison Area Family Lions Club, email Villamil at madisonlionsclub@gmail.com or visit e-clubhouse. org/sites/madison_ area_family.