Eva's 3D Prints

ENDICOTT — Endicott locals Chris and Jana Mathia, AJ and Heather Mathia, and Jance and Kelly Mathia have started a toy business to honor Evangeline Mathia, who died May 17, 2022, at two years old in a drowning accident.

Jana Mathia said that it all began when, at the Palouse Empire Fair last year, a fundraiser for the family gave them the money to purchase a 3D printer. Chris Mathia learned the ins and outs while dealing with an ankle surgery. “It was hard for him to be home without her there,” Jana Mathia said, adding that they started printing off dragons and selling them to kids.

Jana Mathia said that much of the money goes back into buying filament. Since Eva’s 3D prints have been growing organically, they are donating toys and money to the Colfax Fireman’s Toybox this year, and beginning in 2024, 5% of their sales will go to the SPEAR Fund, which helps fight human trafficking. “The only good thing I can say about her being gone is I don’t have to worry about those things happening to her,” Jana Mathia said.

Eva’s 3D Prints has bought six printers and other printing paraphernalia and even opened a store in Spokane.

For Jana Mathia, giving misprints to children helps her handle the grief of losing her daughter. “Instead of throwing those things away, we would just give them out to kids,” she said, adding that being able to see little kids’ smiles is her way of honoring her daughter. “I don’t have my little girl to give a toy to, to play with, so I give it to others.”

Moments that stick out for her include giving a 3-year-old boy who is fighting cancer a toy and giving one to a little girl while at a restaurant, “Which was also the 18-month mark since our girl drowned,” she said, “I just want to honor my daughter, I miss her.”

Jana Mathia said they could be as generous as they are now because of the Whitman County community’s generosity in the early days of their grief. “I still haven’t mailed ‘Thank Yous’ to those who donated at the fair sale, because I am still so overwhelmed by it and have a breakdown every time I start,” she said, adding that she hopes their small acts of kindness honor the community as much as they honor Evangeline.