BY BILL PHILLIPS
Pink Shirt Day was a massive success in Prince George this year.
The national day to bring awareness to issues around bullying, was also a fundraiser for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Prince George. With the help of local businesses, such as Save-On Foods, the organization sold pink T-shirts to raise money and awareness.
The community responded and $26,000 was raised for Big Brothers and Big Sisters Prince George. About $7,300 of that was raised at the four Save-On Foods stores, which helped sell the T-shirts.
“It’s a really fantastic feeling,” said Darbi Brand, community development manager for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, of the amount raised.
The message for this year’s anti-bullying Pink Shirt Day was ‘kindness is universal,’ and Brand says the message seemed to strike a chord.
“(People) said they they felt this year’s message of spreading kindness was really very important,” she said. “And that really resonated with them, even beyond the bullying side. Because we work with mentoring children and youth in the community, we feel it’s important through all our programs to make sure that we are showing children and youth and community members that kindness is easy. You don’t have to work hard to be kind.”
The $26,000 will be going towards mentoring programs at Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
For the Save-On Foods stores, they were happy to help out.
“It’s awesome,” said Brian Gandy, manager of the Spruceland store. “It’s a phenomenal feeling to be able to raise that much money on behalf of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. It’s such a great cause and organization.”
Save-On Foods has supported Pink Shirt Day for a number of years.
