T-shirt sales raise money to help BeeGraphix employees
By Jose Negron
jnegron@yourmvi.com
Davis Slagle understands what other small businesses are going through amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Slagle is vice president of BeeGraphix apparel company, which in an attempt to survive months without an order, was forced to lay off its entire staff of 17 employees at locations in Belle Vernon, Fredericktown and Waynesburg. That didn’t include some of the part-time staff members the company was planning to bring back for the summer.
The company’s closure, like many others, came after Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to close non-essential businesses in mid-March.
In an effort to help members of his staff and other businesses who have been affected by the coronavirus, Slagle and BeeGraphix announced the “Small Towns Big Hearts” campaign March 24.
BeeGraphix is selling T-shirts with the message “Small Towns Big Hearts” adorned on the front along with the hashtag #UnitedWeStand.
“I’m in a network of printers across the country and we were all shooting ideas of what we could do, and some of them had started a campaign where they were selling shirts with each company’s design,” Slagle said. “We decided to go with one shirt in a community-wide campaign. We thought we would go with a regional approach to it because you can travel town to town and be in three different towns within five minutes.”
The shirts are on sale for $24 with $5 going into a fund for laid-off BeeGraphix staff members and $10 going to a business of the customer’s choice. The remainder of the $24 cost will cover the cost of the shirt and shipping expenses.
According to Slagle, BeeGraphix set a goal of selling 1,000 shirts. As of Friday evening, 865 shirts had been sold and nearly $13,000 had been raised for small businesses and laid-off employees. A total of $8,650 will benefit 94 registered businesses, while $4,325 will go to BeeGraphix employees.
“The money is the biggest thing,” Slagle said. “(For employees) this was for grocery bills or survival money. I knew I couldn’t afford to pay these people anything because they were laid off, but I knew I had to figure out a way to get these guys some money.”
Slagle has been involved in a number of fundraising efforts over the years, so he was confident this campaign would be a success.
“I’ve seen these communities rally for different causes,” Slagle said. “Being in this area for so long, we knew it was going to take off, but it absolutely needed all the support from the businesses to sign up to help push the idea of it as well. The biggest key was for them to get on board and ask their people to support them by buying a shirt.”
The first 500 shirt orders have already been delivered, Slagle said.
The second wave of orders, which consists of 275 shirts, will go out today. If customers ordered within the last few days, those orders will likely go out within the next week.
The fundraiser is scheduled to run until May 8, but Slagle said it could be extended.
For more information on the campaign, visit smalltowns.itemorder.com/sale.
