Student volunteers working at tables in the Flash Forward workshop

How a Light Is Built

• Our workshop is in Bellevue, Washington, and is run by students.
• Each light is printed, assembled and checked before it is packed for a partner.
• Parts cost $5.17 per light. Volunteers build for free.
• Partner organizations, not Flash Forward volunteers, are the ones who know the students and their communities.

Print the Case

The 3D-printed case holds the light’s components together. The printer lays down the material for each enclosure, and student volunteers run the prints.

The case is the first of six parts. It costs $1.10 in material per light.

Assemble the Light

Volunteers install and connect the solar panel, the LiPo battery, the TP4056 charge board, the two LEDs and the slide switch inside the printed case. They use hand tools and a driver to fasten the panel to the case.

A finished Flash Forward light with its two LEDs switched on

Test the Light

Every light is checked before it leaves the workshop. It must charge in daylight and turn on with the switch.

A stack of finished lights in protective wrapping

Pack and Ship to a Partner

Finished lights are wrapped and packed for a partner organization. 42 lights have shipped to Brighten Haiti. 15 lights are allocated to Loksadhana in India and 15 to Malaika in the DR Congo, and are not described as shipped.

Shipping is not part of the $5.17 parts cost.

Where the lights go

Students with their Flash Forward lights

Help build the next light

Donations help pay for parts. You can also help as a volunteer, or read more about the light and what is inside it.

Donate