Will Pearson, of Phantom Screenprint, has come up with a novel charity fundraising idea and is inviting the UK’s screen printers to band together and help him to make it a success.

Will, who lived in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, in the 1970s, has teamed up with UK charity Healing Venezuela. He comments: “The economic situation in Venezuela has worsened to the point where the country has suffered a total economic collapse, with inflation set at 1,600,000% by the end of this year. The situation is so bad that hospitals and medical centres have no supplies – in many cases not even drinking water. As a result, Venezuelans are dying needlessly due to the lack of medical care.

“We’ve produced a piece of T-shirt artwork, which prints in four spot colours. The idea is that we send out the print-ready files to any UK printers that want to join in and help the desperate situation in Venezuela. The printers would commit to giving up a couple of hours to print 100 or so shirts, and these would then be for sale to each printer’s own customers, with the proceeds going to Healing Venezuela. Printers could either keep from the proceeds the cost of the shirts, or if they want to make their own donation, simply donate 100% of the funds to the charity.”

Will adds that he is currently trying to secure a super-low price for white T-shirts for the project. He is also producing a PDF that promotes the shirt and explains the Venezuelan predicament. “This could work really easily; whenever a customer emails or phones needing a print job, simply ask them if they would like to pay an extra £10 and receive a T-shirt with their order, so there’s no additional packing or delivery costs.” He continues: “If people get on board we could, as an industry, really make a difference this summer. Who knows? If the campaign goes well, and we come together as a group in this way, we could collectively choose a different charity each year, with artwork by different print shops, and it would give us all an extra, charitable dimension to our careers as T-shirt printers.”

Will is asking for anyone who thinks the project sounds interesting to please get in touch as soon as possible, by phone or email (see below). Dave Roper has already agreed to back the project and will be e-mailing details to Screen Print World’s customer-base to drum up support. In the meantime, visit the Healing Venezuela website for information on the charity and its work. 

01209 211673
info@phantomscreenprint.co.uk
www.healingvenezuela.org