A collaboration between three Saskatchewan clothing businesses raised $50,000 through sales of orange shirts that will be used as donations for residential school survivors and Indigenous veterans.
Snipe and Celly Pro Shop, 22 Fresh, and Okema Clothing formed an alliance a few months back to design and sell orange T-shirts for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation held on Sept. 30. All of the proceeds went directly to the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association (SFNVA) and the Saskatoon Survivors Circle for residential school survivors.
“What goes hand in hand — 80 per cent of our First Nations veterans are residential school survivors as well, so having both of these organizations brought together gives us a great sense of pride,” said Clay DeBray, Snipe and Celly Pro Shop manager. “With this financial support, we know it’s going to great causes.”
On Nov. 3, each organization was presented with a $25,000 cheque by the three businesses. DeBray said this initiative is created to bring awareness to Truth and Reconciliation.
“It took quite a bit of planning with the design of the logo and what the T-shirts were going to look like,” he said.
“We did a pre-order sale and that skyrocketed. Everybody wanted their hands on this T-shirt so it kind of set a benchmark for what we needed to bring in.”
- Budget 2024 failed to spark ‘political reboot’ for Liberals, polling suggests
- Train goes up in flames while rolling through London, Ont. Here’s what we know
- Peel police chief met Sri Lankan officer a court says ‘participated’ in torture
- Wrong remains sent to ‘exhausted’ Canadian family after death on Cuba vacation
DeBray said this contribution was important to all three clothing businesses to bring awareness, to form partnerships, and to educate society on Indigenous history.
The SFNVA Grand Chief Steven Ross said the Indigenous veterans greatly appreciate the business’ generous donations. He said the money will help Indigenous veterans in different ways.
“We will be able to use that money in our activities, programming and projects,” Ross said. “One of the things that we do is ensure that our veteran members and their wives get the full benefits their entitled to.”
The Grand Chief said sometimes it’s a challenge for Indigenous veterans to get the benefits that they deserve.
“Veteran Affairs have been slow,” he said. “Sometimes (they) are reluctant to pay out benefits to veterans.”
Ross said the SFNVA will be able to work with the Last Post Fund to provide military headstones to the Indigenous veterans who have passed on.
“When we lose any of our veterans, we provide a semi-military funeral for them,” Ross said. “Those are some of the benefits we provide to our veterans. I believe the veterans deserve it.”
DeBray said this initiative is only the beginning. The collaboration plans on selling more T-shirts to donate to good causes.
“We’re not ending this story. We’re only just starting it,” he said.
Comments