Pink Shirt Day first started in Canada in 2007 after two students decided to take a stand against bullying. A fellow student in their school had been bullied for wearing pink and to show their support, they went out and bought pink shirts to hand out to other students to wear. By the end of the week, much of the student population within the school were wearing pink shirts in solidarity. Since then, each year we celebrate Pink Shirt Day, not only in schools, but in workplaces and in our homes as well.
This year, Pink Shirt Day took place on February 24th and in honour of this day, a local screen-printing company, White Water Clothing, decided to hold a Pink Shirt Day Campaign to help raise funds for Kids Help Phone.
Mayla Nowoselski and Cynthia Paul of White Water Clothing had “Be Kind” pink shirts available for purchase for $15 and with every shirt sold, $2 would be donated to Kids Help Phone.
“We felt it was important for our business to make a positive difference in our community, and so added our own clothing line called Prairie Tales Clothing. Prairie Tales is focused on sharing positive messages and celebrating our unique prairie lives. We saw an opportunity to bring awareness to such an important issue as anti-bullying this year, with the Pink Shirt Day Campaign. We were happy to connect with so many wonderful clients and thrilled to donate $2 per shirt to Kids Help Phone. The feedback and support we received is a wonderful indication of how powerful community is and how we can all work together to make a difference,” Nowoselski said.
Due to the support that Nowoselski and Paul received through this campaign, a total of $230 was donated to Kids Help Phone, Canada’s only 24/7, national support service that offers professional counselling, information and referrals and volunteer-led, text-based support to young people in both English and French. Those looking for support through Kids Help Phone can do so confidentially via phone, text, mobile app, or through their website.