Fundraising effort launched in Oshawa to support Humboldt bus crash victims’ families

Veronica Gizuk and Alicia Pettifer began selling “We Are Humboldt Strong” shirts on Monday to their family and friends, but word quickly spread beyond people they know.

Their phones ring every few minutes as they take orders for the shirts, which are created by and shipped from a Humboldt, Sask., shop. All proceeds of the sales will go directly toward the families of the crash victims, and the pair says they have already raised more than $1,300.

“We didn’t even set a goal,” said Gizuk, 19, a Durham College student. “At first, we didn’t even think it would be that much.”

The owner of Spotlight Sport and Corporate Wear Ltd., the print shop that makes the apparel, says his business has been barely keeping up with the high demand for the shirts in Canada and around the world.

“We thought, ‘We’ll get 50 orders.’ You know, 50, 60 shirts, and it would be just a small little thing,” Mike Yager said. “Well, it totally exploded on us.”

The initiative is just one of the efforts happening around the world to help the families of the victims in Friday’s crash, which took the lives of 16 people on the Humboldt Broncos’ team bus. The junior hockey team was headed to a semifinal game against the Nipawin Hawks when the bus collided with a semi-truck.

Gizuk and Pettifer say the tragedy hits close to home, as both of them have ridden buses with their sports teams.

“They were all so young,” Gizuk said, tearing up. “It’s terrifying.”

She said they want to help out the victims’ families in any way they can.

“I know it’s going to be nice for them… the funerals are obviously going to be covered. That’s something they’re not going to have to worry about, which would be the least of their worries right now.”

“Whatever we keep getting is going to work for us,” Pettifer said.

Anyone who would like to order a shirt can email Gizuk at veronicalynngizuk@outlook.com or Pettifer at alicianpettifer@hotmail.com.