A local company and organization were recently featured on the small screen in metro Atlanta in hopes their story will reach a wide audience and raise money for Polk County’s feline and canine friends.
WSB-TV was in town to film at printing company Cedarstream in recent days and watched as a batch of t-shirts came off their line at their new facility, destined for the hands of the Cedartown-Polk County Humane Society to sell on their own. Hundreds more are set to follow as the orders keep piling up online following the Atlanta news station’s “People to People” segment, and from online postings previously.
Humane Society President and Chair Charlotte Harrison said it is the generosity of the company that is making it possible for the organization to consider having t-shirts as part of the fundraiser, and through the efforts of Cedarstream’s Kim Moates an artist was found to come up with a design.
Harrison said co-owner Darcy Morris contacted the Humane Society about what they could do to help, and put a plan in motion to offer custom designed t-shirts online. A portion of the sales goes directly toward the Humane Society’s fundraising goal.
“We put it online and got some pretty immediate results,” Harrison said.
Moates, who took up the company efforts to create a t-shirt design to sell to benefit the Humane Society, said that she found a former student Katie Bryant to come up with the artwork printed on the shirts. Moates said her work focused in recent times on rescue animals.
“When we were thinking of ideas to help the humane society, working with her was an idea that popped into my head,” she said.
Bryant also receives a portion of sales for her work.
“We’ve had a relationship here at Cedarstream with Charlotte and the Humane Society for quite some time,” Moates said. “We were looking to help them with the final amount of money they have to raise.”
Harrison said the organization is looking come up with the funds to match a $560,000 grant, with only $150,000 left to go. So far the t-shirt sales are helping, with people from 17 states around Georgia ordering them online.
“The community support has been tremendous. I can’t name all the people in this town and this county that have helped me,” Harrison said. “On a daily basis, people help me with fundraising and animals, all the things required to do the day-to-day business of running the Humane Society.”
T-shirts are $25 and includes shipping and tax. Sizes ranging from adult small through 3x, and can be found at cedarstream.com. Learn more about helping the Humane Society by visiting their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cedartownhumanesociety/
WRITTEN BY KEVIN MYRICK